Strava, designed for active individuals, announced today its acquisition of The Breakaway’s core assets, a Y Combinator-incubated cycling training app. This deal follows Strava’s recent acquisition of Runna, a prominent running training app, demonstrating the company’s ongoing investment in enhancing its ecosystem for its global community of active users.
While financial details weren’t officially disclosed, industry experts estimate The Breakaway’s sale price at $15–25 million. This estimate considers key factors: The Breakaway raised $3.03 million across two funding rounds, with its last seed VC round securing $2.9 million in February 2022. For comparison, Runna, acquired by Strava the previous month, had raised £10 million and was valued at over $40 million when purchased.
The Breakaway acquisition coincided with Strava closing a new funding round valued at $2.2 billion—a significant milestone reflecting its strong growth and strategic position in the fitness technology sector.
“The acquisition represents a homecoming of sorts,” says industry analyst Jane Chen. “Jordan Kobert and Kyle Yugawa, former Strava employees with deep expertise in cycling analytics, co-founded the Breakaway. This existing relationship likely streamlined negotiations and influenced valuation discussions.”
The perfect fit: Why Strava chose The Breakaway
The Breakaway provides personalised cycling training, innovative ride analysis, and achievement tracking tools that motivate users to stay active. Its standout feature is AI-driven training plans, which analyse riders’ power data across 12 time intervals (from 15 seconds to 60 minutes) to generate actionable insights and personalised workouts.
Notably, Breakaway users who connect to Strava upload twice as many activities as other Strava cyclists. The cycling app’s mission to help people improve aligns perfectly with Strava’s goal of motivating active lifestyles.
Breakaway’s proprietary “Power Skills” metrics enable cyclists to benchmark their performance against themselves and across eight competitive levels, giving both competitive and recreational cyclists clear insight into their progress. Achievement notifications for personal records (PRs) and milestones are central to the paid experience, and new users are offered a free month-long trial.
The Breakaway’s integration with Strava is already robust. It automatically analyses every ride posted on Strava and alerts users to new PRs or improvements. This synergy enhanced the acquisition’s appeal and enabled rapid post-acquisition integration.
Building sport-specific ecosystems
Strava’s acquisition strategy targets specialised training applications to complement its core social fitness platform. The company, valued at $2.2 billion including debt, systematically fills product gaps through strategic acquisitions rather than internal development.
“When Strava was founded more than 16 years ago, it was created initially for cyclists — these users remain important members of our global community,” emphasised Michael Martin, Strava’s CEO. This statement highlights cycling’s strategic importance to Strava’s identity, even as running becomes its fastest-growing sport segment.
The acquisition addresses a crucial engagement metric: Breakaway users who connect to Strava upload twice as many activities as other Strava cyclists. This data point likely significantly influenced Strava’s valuation model, as increased platform engagement directly correlates with subscription retention and conversion rates.
Strava’s growth in the competitive fitness market
As Strava approaches $500 million in annual recurring revenue, achieving $275 million in 2023, these acquisitions fuel growth by enhancing user value. The current premium subscription costs $79.99 annually, positioning it between the more budget-friendly Breakaway and higher-end Runna offerings.
The Breakaway presented an attractive acquisition target, backed by its Y Combinator background and support from prominent investors like General Catalyst, Norwest Venture Partners, and Zone 5 Ventures. These investors’ previous support of Zwift, a key player in digital cycling, suggests they recognised synergistic opportunities between The Breakaway and larger fitness platforms.
Following its approach with Runna, Strava will maintain The Breakaway as an independent app while developing deeper platform integrations. This strategy preserves the unique features and user experiences that make these acquisitions valuable while gradually incorporating their technologies into the broader Strava ecosystem.
The acquisition promises faster product development and improved features for The Breakaway’s estimated 50,000 users—a figure inferred from funding and subscription records. For Strava’s 150 million users, it represents progress toward a comprehensive training solution spanning various sports and skill levels.
Additionally, the acquisition reinforces Strava’s commitment to its developer ecosystem and API strategy, which currently supports integration with over 100 third-party applications. Strava strengthens its appeal to other developers by acquiring successful developers within this ecosystem while securing exclusive access to platform-driven innovations.
As Strava transforms from a social fitness tracker into a comprehensive training platform, these acquisitions will help maintain its market position against specialised training applications and extensive fitness ecosystems from competitors like Apple, Google, and Nike.
