Adidas buys Runtastic for 220 million euros

Adidas buys Runtastic for 220 million euros! The sports equipment supplier therefore gets hold of the Orbit fitness tracker but also and above all the database of 70 million users of these small smart health connected bracelets and smartphone applications.

For the uninitiated, Runtastic is one of the main applications, or at least a suite of applications, support and monitoring for athletes, whether confirmed or not. With more than 140 million app downloads and 140 employees, the brand had built a small empire in no time. A large part of the 140 employees will join the 53,000 employees of the Adidas Group worldwide. A drop of water !

If Adidas buys Runtastic then it’s also Orbit fitness tracker. For Adidas, it will not only bring millions of users to its ecosystem, but will also allow it to further penetrate the fitness market. The acquisition will add to the existing Adidas miCoach line; by the way none of the products or applications in this range had really managed to shade Runtastic. To be complete, Adidas currently has three smart health connected products: the miCoach Smart Fit, an activity tracker and the miCoach Smart Run. They use Mio heart rate monitoring technology.

The CEO of Adidas Group, Herbert Hainer said: "This investment will add considerable value to our range and offer new sporting experiences to all our users around the world. "

Anyway, and to get around Herbert Hainer's tongue in cheek, Adidas has simply bought a place in the smart health connected sports market. Despite promising attempts, the brand had never succeeded in establishing itself; probably due to a lack of anticipation. Personally, I think this external growth strategy is the best solution for Adidas. But suddenly, a question arises: what will be the next acquisition?

Source

AB SMART HEALTH REVIEW