How Strava Became a Market-Leading Fitness App

What Does Strava Do? 

From running to bike rides to going on a hike, each one of these can be measured and uploaded on the Strava fitness app, founded in 2009. Strava is more than just a recording app however, it brands itself as ‘the social network for those who strive’. 

Strava aims to ‘enhance the experience of sports and connect millions of athletes from around the world.’ The key draw to it is the community it creates around fitness. From school aged sports clubs to finance veterans cycling the route of the Tour de France, Strava is used by all ages and abilities.

Who Developed Strava & What Does Strava Mean? 

Strava was founded by Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey. Their aim was to create an app to help motivate people to be more active. Strava means ‘to strive’ in Swedish. 

Having both rowed whilst at Harvard University, they created a virtual boathouse with the intention of creating a space to interact with other people who are pursuing goals around fitness.

Horvath notes that Strava isn’t just for world class athletes; it promotes fitness and being active, and that is at the centre of wider wellbeing for all. 

‘Many people wake up and want to be active, and Strava can help them with that’

During his conversation with Simon, Horvath reflects that whilst rowing consistently at Harvard ‘we were better students, better friends, better in our relationships, because we had this anchor of being active every day.’ 

The real drive of Strava, Horvath says, is that ultimately ‘people motivate people, it’s as simple as that’. 

How Did it Outpace Rivals?

Whilst there is a lot of competition, Horvath insists that ‘if you get the product right, it can rapidly scale across borders’. 

Strava outpaces rivals for several key reasons. Now being used for hundreds of sports, Strava was first aimed at cyclists, a fast-growing market at the time. For instance, in the UK, sales of bicycles increased from a trough of 2.3m per annum in 2002, to a peak 3.64m per annum in 2010 (an overall sales increase of 63%).

Cyclists are also a valuable consumer demographic (cyclists in the US tend to come from high income/high education households). This likely encourages a higher adoption rate of Strava’s subscription offering, which is currently $11.99 p/m (plus taxes) in the US, and £8.99+VAT p/m in the UK. 

Although ‘there are lots of places where you can see content around fitness’ such as Instagram and TikTok, Horvath emphasises the importance of the aesthetic experience.'

‘Simply put when you look at product market fit… the most important thing is that it is delightful, it is magical, it sparks something in the user that makes them want to talk about it with someone else… that’s what makes it spread by word of mouth.’

Strava entices subscribers to ‘join for tracking, stay for the community’.  Strava starts with the customers and then ‘go beyond what they are asking’ and think ahead. 

“No-one would have asked for Strava ‘segments’ when Gainey created them.” Segments are a section of a route that is recorded and can be compared to others or to your past efforts). Yet it gets to the core of what motivates people - seeing progress and accountability. Horvath reminds entrepreneurs to ‘never take for granted that your customer base will be there tomorrow’

Strava is a centralised platform and  ‘universality has been a key part of our success and something that we orchestrated from the very beginning’. It makes use of a variety of platforms, including iOS, Android and wearables. What made people trust the company, says Horvath, was that  ‘we treated the customer as someone who really had goals that were important to them and therefore important to Strava.’ 

During initial funding rounds when investors said no, the founders kept going on the belief that ‘the customer was telling us that this was something that they valued’.

‘Trust your customer, not your investors!’

Where is Strava Based & Who Owns Strava?

Strava is a global company based in San Francisco, California, with employees worldwide. It is a privately owned company, currently reaching 120mn users in over 190 countries. New CEO Michael Martin has recently joined the company, and previously held technology leadership positions at Nike, YouTube and Google. 

Like many firms today, Strava has opted not to go public. Horvath explained that being private is beneficial as ‘you get to pick your investors’, and avoid ‘a lot of disclosure’ requirements, which increases overheads and can risk a public investor short-termism bias. 

In addition, secondary markets today are much better developed, enabling (relatively) straightforward trading of company shares (as explained by Tom Callahan of Nasdaq Private Market & Matt Brown of CAIS in the Money Maze Podcast Private Markets Series).

What is the Valuation of Strava?

Strava was most recently valued at $1.5 billion in 2020, in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital and TCV. Sacra estimated that Strava hit $265M ARR in 2023, with 100mn users. 

How Does Strava Make Money?

Since its outset, Strava’s business model was always going to be subscription based. Horvath recognises that this was the core revenue, allowing for premium quality without having ads.

Strava uses a freemium model, where those with paid subscriptions can access certain additional features. The current premium subscription price is GBP £54.99 p/a or USD $79.99 p/a.

In the interview, Horvath recognises that in order for this to work it relies on the consumer understanding that digital subscriptions are worth paying for, seeing them as a commodity (similar to buying trainers or food).

The revenue from subscribers also invested into developing better app features for future and current users, such as being able to access segment leaderboards.

But is it worth paying for? Inevitably, it’s often a personal choice, unique to one’s individual financial circumstances, frequency of fitness activity & other factors!

In a 2024 review, Lauren Scott of TechRadar praised the premium features of the app, including its advanced analytics, route maps & segment competitions, but criticised the 2023 price hike. Ultimately, she gave the premium offering a 4/5 value score for serious athletes. 

“What we didn't know was that subscription businesses grow really slowly until they grow really quickly. So they grow really slowly because at the same time, you're building your community, you're also building your subscriber base. They go hand in hand and they almost compete with each other. The more you make free, the faster you may grow your community, and the more that you make paid...it’s much harder to grow your community”

A Personal Perspective: Why is Strava Valuable for Durham University Students

Towards the end of my first year at Durham, the novelty of going out and partying was not so fresh, and with long sunny days many looked for new activities to occupy their time. Trends tend to circulate around student groups, probably quicker than any other public sphere. Be that fashion, slang, music taste, or in this case, fitness!

When, sat in the pub with a friend one day, I wasn’t asked what my phone number was, nor my Instagram or Twitter but rather, ‘what is your Strava?’ I truly recognised the impact of this app. 

I’m a Strava devotee myself and I especially used it during my training for the Edinburgh marathon last year. I recorded my runs rigorously, aiming to beat my times or compare to local runners on certain segments such as ‘along the riverside’ or ‘Gilesgate hill’.

One thing some students have a lot of is time; in UK higher education, contact hours can be very limited relative to secondary/high school level education. Accompany this with a generational over-dependence on social media, plus the community competitive aspect of the app, and I see why Strava can thrive in this student market!

With both the free and subscription options, it is also open to all. It is more than just a fitness app, Strava has been labelled a ‘religion’, with users comparing pace, and building up their weekly mileage. Strava has made being active fun. It has revolutionised how people track, share and compete, crucially doing so through a highly successful subscription model. 

By Ida Bridgeman, an intern at the Money Maze Podcast. Ida is currently a Second Year Liberal Arts student at Durham University. Alongside her degree Ida has co-founded the ‘Student Community Consultancy’, forging relationships between Durham businesses and the student body. She also enjoys her position as editor of Perspective at Arts and Culture magazine ‘Wayzgoose’, works part time as an events photographer and runs a small music speaker rental business. Ida is involved with the women in business society and represents her college in hockey and tennis. 

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