AlpineZone News
Skiing News
Leader in online and mobile fitness applications poised to accelerate growth through latest round of funding and new strategic business partnerships with Competitor Group, Inc. and run.com, the e-commerce platform for The Running Specialty Group, LLC
AUSTIN, Texas, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MapMyFITNESS, a health and fitness technology company powering the Internet's largest and fastest growing community of fitness enthusiasts, today announced $9 million in Series B funding led by Austin Ventures and Milestone Venture Partners. Strategic business partners Competitor Group, Inc. and The Running Specialty Group, LLC also announced their participation in the funding as part of larger business partnerships.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120522/SF11456LOGO)
MapMyFITNESS is an online and mobile platform that helps over nine million active users plan workout activities, measure their fitness and track their progress both in real-time and over time. The company leverages a fast-growing business model that has doubled revenue each of the past four years and is projected to nearly triple in 2012. This investment will help MapMyFITNESS continue to advance its leadership position in the global online and mobile fitness application markets and further develop its offerings.
"Austin Ventures' continuing enthusiasm is a great validation of our success to date. We're also thrilled to leverage Milestone Venture Partners' unique expertise on healthcare technology services, and to deepen our business partnerships with Competitor Group and run.com, the e-commerce platform for The Running Specialty Group," said Richard Jalichandra, chief executive officer of MapMyFITNESS. "This Series B funding allows us to continue innovating and improving our tools for people of all levels to improve their fitness, nutrition and overall health."
"MapMyFITNESS has built the leading fitness activity tracking technology platform for consumers and enterprise alike," said Mike Dodd, partner at Austin Ventures and MapMyFITNESS board member. "The company has also proven its ability to build the business, with growth in audience and revenue far exceeding expectations."
"The connected health space is rapidly expanding, and the MapMyFITNESS team has established a solid early leadership position," said Todd Pietri, partner at Milestone Venture Partners.
"MapMyFITNESS' amazing growth of one of the largest audiences of runners, walkers, cyclists and active people has tremendous synergy with what we're doing at Competitor with events like the Rock N Roll race series," said Scott Dickey, president and chief executive officer at Competitor Group, Inc.
"The MapMyFITNESS team has created one of the most engaging utilities for fitness enthusiasts, one that complements what we're trying to do with our new website, run.com," said Ken Gart, President of The Running Specialty Group.
MapMyFITNESS recently announced a completely rebuilt platform with several new features including an innovative capability called Courses, which allows users to "check-in" during workouts, and an advanced integration of Google Maps API for Business, which provides route details like traffic patterns and temperature in real-time on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile or iPad devices.
MapMyFITNESS has been recognized by some of the world's most credible authorities as the premier fitness application, including TIME's "50 Best Apps list in 2012" (the only fitness app named this year), Runner's World UK's "Best Running App of 2012," About.com Reader's Choice "Best Running App" in 2012 and a consistent top five ranking in iTunes' Health and Fitness category. More than 200,000 health and fitness activities are logged each day by MapMyFITNESS users across 40 different sports - not just running and cycling.
About MapMyFITNESS
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, MapMyFitness is a health and fitness technology company that powers the internet's largest social network of fitness enthusiasts and provides a comprehensive suite of enterprise health solutions. The MapMyFITNESS network of websites and mobile applications -- MapMyRUN, MapMyRIDE, MapMyWALK, MapMyHIKE, MapMyFITNESS, MapMyTRI, MapMyMOUNTAIN and MapMyDOGWALK - offer more than 9 million fitness enthusiasts the ability to record and store their daily running, cycling, walking or hiking routes in an online database or map out tomorrow's path. Users get access to a searchable database of over 45 million global routes, online training tools, fitness calculators, nutrition tracking, comprehensive event listings, and the ability to easily share their activities with friends. For more information, please visit mapmyfitnessinc.com.
About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over 25 years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With an investment focus on business services and supply chain, financial services, new media, Internet, and information services, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in "planned experiments" in early-stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds and recapitalizations. AV's strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Visit austinventures.com for more information.
About Milestone Venture Partners
Milestone Venture Partners, located in New York City, is an early-stage venture capital fund with $70 million under management. Milestone's investment strategy is focused on capital-efficient, technology-enhanced services businesses. Areas of expertise and focus include media and marketing services, digital healthcare, and financial services IT. Milestone has invested in 13 digital healthcare businesses accounting for over 50% of its capital.
About The Running Specialty Group, LLC
The Running Specialty Group operates run.com, along with 19 specialty running shops in seven states and the District of Columbia under The Running Company banner. The Running Company stores carry a deep assortment of performance running shoes, apparel and accessories. Their trained experts advise everyone from beginners to advanced runners and provide free gait analysis to ensure the proper fit for each customer. The Running Company is tightly connected to its communities, hosting regular neighborhood group runs and sponsoring local races. More information on The Running Company can be found at www.therunningcompany.net.
About Competitor Group, Inc.
Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) is the active lifestyle industry's leading media and event entertainment company. CGI is a portfolio company of the investment firm Falconhead Capital, which specializes in growing companies in the consumer sector of the leisure and lifestyle space. The aggregate CGI customer base now exceeds 7 million Endurance enthusiasts and athletes. CGI's portfolio of media assets dominate the expanding endurance industry and include a robust digital community online at Competitor.com. With the strategic addition of Raceit.com, a leading digital registration platform, the company has launched a race services capability to meet the needs of not only the company's owned and operated events, but also endurance events of all sizes on behalf of the entire industry. With a leading market share of endurance enthusiasts, CGI owns and operates more than 58 events around the world, including the flagship Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series in 27 markets, the Land Rover TriRock Triathlon Series in 7 markets and the Columbia Muddy Buddy Series in 8 markets, collectively delivering more than 600,000 professional and amateur participants in 2012. Anchoring the company with rich content and marketing leverage are four publishing properties dedicated to running, cycling, triathlon and the world of multisport including Velo, Inside Triathlon, Triathlete and Competitor with a combined monthly circulation of over 600,000. Further information about CGI and its digital, publishing and event entertainment properties can be found at Competitormediakit.com.
AUSTIN, Texas, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MapMyFITNESS, a health and fitness technology company powering the Internet's largest and fastest growing community of fitness enthusiasts, today announced $9 million in Series B funding led by Austin Ventures and Milestone Venture Partners. Strategic business partners Competitor Group, Inc. and The Running Specialty Group, LLC also announced their participation in the funding as part of larger business partnerships.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120522/SF11456LOGO)
MapMyFITNESS is an online and mobile platform that helps over nine million active users plan workout activities, measure their fitness and track their progress both in real-time and over time. The company leverages a fast-growing business model that has doubled revenue each of the past four years and is projected to nearly triple in 2012. This investment will help MapMyFITNESS continue to advance its leadership position in the global online and mobile fitness application markets and further develop its offerings.
"Austin Ventures' continuing enthusiasm is a great validation of our success to date. We're also thrilled to leverage Milestone Venture Partners' unique expertise on healthcare technology services, and to deepen our business partnerships with Competitor Group and run.com, the e-commerce platform for The Running Specialty Group," said Richard Jalichandra, chief executive officer of MapMyFITNESS. "This Series B funding allows us to continue innovating and improving our tools for people of all levels to improve their fitness, nutrition and overall health."
"MapMyFITNESS has built the leading fitness activity tracking technology platform for consumers and enterprise alike," said Mike Dodd, partner at Austin Ventures and MapMyFITNESS board member. "The company has also proven its ability to build the business, with growth in audience and revenue far exceeding expectations."
"The connected health space is rapidly expanding, and the MapMyFITNESS team has established a solid early leadership position," said Todd Pietri, partner at Milestone Venture Partners.
"MapMyFITNESS' amazing growth of one of the largest audiences of runners, walkers, cyclists and active people has tremendous synergy with what we're doing at Competitor with events like the Rock N Roll race series," said Scott Dickey, president and chief executive officer at Competitor Group, Inc.
"The MapMyFITNESS team has created one of the most engaging utilities for fitness enthusiasts, one that complements what we're trying to do with our new website, run.com," said Ken Gart, President of The Running Specialty Group.
MapMyFITNESS recently announced a completely rebuilt platform with several new features including an innovative capability called Courses, which allows users to "check-in" during workouts, and an advanced integration of Google Maps API for Business, which provides route details like traffic patterns and temperature in real-time on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile or iPad devices.
MapMyFITNESS has been recognized by some of the world's most credible authorities as the premier fitness application, including TIME's "50 Best Apps list in 2012" (the only fitness app named this year), Runner's World UK's "Best Running App of 2012," About.com Reader's Choice "Best Running App" in 2012 and a consistent top five ranking in iTunes' Health and Fitness category. More than 200,000 health and fitness activities are logged each day by MapMyFITNESS users across 40 different sports - not just running and cycling.
About MapMyFITNESS
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, MapMyFitness is a health and fitness technology company that powers the internet's largest social network of fitness enthusiasts and provides a comprehensive suite of enterprise health solutions. The MapMyFITNESS network of websites and mobile applications -- MapMyRUN, MapMyRIDE, MapMyWALK, MapMyHIKE, MapMyFITNESS, MapMyTRI, MapMyMOUNTAIN and MapMyDOGWALK - offer more than 9 million fitness enthusiasts the ability to record and store their daily running, cycling, walking or hiking routes in an online database or map out tomorrow's path. Users get access to a searchable database of over 45 million global routes, online training tools, fitness calculators, nutrition tracking, comprehensive event listings, and the ability to easily share their activities with friends. For more information, please visit mapmyfitnessinc.com.
About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over 25 years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With an investment focus on business services and supply chain, financial services, new media, Internet, and information services, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in "planned experiments" in early-stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds and recapitalizations. AV's strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Visit austinventures.com for more information.
About Milestone Venture Partners
Milestone Venture Partners, located in New York City, is an early-stage venture capital fund with $70 million under management. Milestone's investment strategy is focused on capital-efficient, technology-enhanced services businesses. Areas of expertise and focus include media and marketing services, digital healthcare, and financial services IT. Milestone has invested in 13 digital healthcare businesses accounting for over 50% of its capital.
About The Running Specialty Group, LLC
The Running Specialty Group operates run.com, along with 19 specialty running shops in seven states and the District of Columbia under The Running Company banner. The Running Company stores carry a deep assortment of performance running shoes, apparel and accessories. Their trained experts advise everyone from beginners to advanced runners and provide free gait analysis to ensure the proper fit for each customer. The Running Company is tightly connected to its communities, hosting regular neighborhood group runs and sponsoring local races. More information on The Running Company can be found at www.therunningcompany.net.
About Competitor Group, Inc.
Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) is the active lifestyle industry's leading media and event entertainment company. CGI is a portfolio company of the investment firm Falconhead Capital, which specializes in growing companies in the consumer sector of the leisure and lifestyle space. The aggregate CGI customer base now exceeds 7 million Endurance enthusiasts and athletes. CGI's portfolio of media assets dominate the expanding endurance industry and include a robust digital community online at Competitor.com. With the strategic addition of Raceit.com, a leading digital registration platform, the company has launched a race services capability to meet the needs of not only the company's owned and operated events, but also endurance events of all sizes on behalf of the entire industry. With a leading market share of endurance enthusiasts, CGI owns and operates more than 58 events around the world, including the flagship Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series in 27 markets, the Land Rover TriRock Triathlon Series in 7 markets and the Columbia Muddy Buddy Series in 8 markets, collectively delivering more than 600,000 professional and amateur participants in 2012. Anchoring the company with rich content and marketing leverage are four publishing properties dedicated to running, cycling, triathlon and the world of multisport including Velo, Inside Triathlon, Triathlete and Competitor with a combined monthly circulation of over 600,000. Further information about CGI and its digital, publishing and event entertainment properties can be found at Competitormediakit.com.
