The Endurance Economy (Part 3) Early-Stage Activity

Exploration of the trends and companies shaping the future of endurance sports

Introduction

In Part 3 of this five-part series on the Endurance Race economy, we examine the early-stage firms shaping the industry's future.

As I discussed in Part 2, which covered the current M&A landscape, one of the core thematic elements behind the investment opportunity within endurance races is the opportunity for synergies at scale that are achieved with multiple races in a single portfolio. One key way to do that is by adopting technology solutions that can streamline operations and whose fixed costs can be spread across the entire portfolio.

Early-stage investment opportunities are not limited to technology solutions for races, though. Key emerging segments include endurance race training, nutrition and hydration, apparel, social connection, wearable devices, and emerging professional leagues.

The purpose of this post is to highlight some of these segments and representative deals and prove that the endurance race economy should not only be considered an investment focus for later-stage investment firms but also present opportunities for venture capital investors.

SportsTech Market

Before discussing the specifics of the Endurance Race economy, it’s important to highlight the substantial growth in the SportsTech vertical market more broadly. In 2023 alone, 34 new sports-focused investment funds were formed and raised $10B.

According to SportsTechX, $49B has been invested across 2,600 deals globally in SportsTech over the last five years. This is driven by the societal importance our world places on sports as well as the fact that SportsTech is often used as a proof-of-concept before being adopted by much larger healthcare applications.

The momentum has carried into 2024, and July has seen $800+M deployed into SportsTech startups, with notable raises including Infinite Reality ($350M) and COSM ($250M).

The market is maturing to the point in which we are seeing successful portfolio companies exit through IPOs and M&A activity. Investment bank Drakestar reported $11.6B of  Global M&A transaction value within SportsTech in 2023 alone.

Whether endurance sports are identified as a key focus area or not, more investment firms will continue to identify SportsTech as a key vertical in which to deploy capital for long-term returns.

Endurance Sports Verticals

Endurance Event Management

Endurance race management companies streamline the identification, registration, and operational process for endurance race operators.  

Representative Deals

1. Events.com secured a $100M growth equity investment from Gem Global Yield LLC in December 2022. The proceeds will largely fund future acquisitions, which has been a key strategy for Events.com up to this point. Successful acquisitions include Brown Paper Tickets, HelpGetSponsors.com, Evensi, SpinGo, EventsOnline, BumpChat, and Platester.

2. Race registration platform Movemint raised an undisclosed Pre-Seed round in May 2024 led by Underscore VC, Fitt Capital, and Kiwi Fitness founder Olia Birulia. Movemint is led by former Strava engineer Zack Isaacs.

3. Race Management and fundraising platform RunSignUp raised a $2.6M Series A round in late 2020, led by Payroc. This brought RunSignUp’s total fundraising to date to $4.3M.

Endurance Event Training

Endurance event training includes hardware and software solutions aimed at individuals training for various endurance sports.

Representative Deals

1. AR-based Swim goggle firm FORM, raised a $12M Series A round in 2020, led by Silicon Valley Bank and various family offices.

2. PKRS.AI, an AI-based training platform, raised an undisclosed Seed round in 2020, led by the former CMO of Strava, the head of Business Development at Zwift, and various Olympic and IRONMAN athletes.

3. Running coach platform, Runna raised a ~$6.3M round led by JamJar Investments in December 2023. This brought total funding to $8.63M

4. Industry unicorn Zwift raised a $450M Series C round in late 2020 led by KKR, Permira, Zone 5 Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund, True, Highland Europe, Novator, and Causeway Media. Zwift is a hardware and software manufacturer that allows at-home cyclists to compete in virtual worlds. This round brought Zwift’s total funding to $620M.

5. The Breakaway, which uses data generated from bicycle power meters to create customized workouts and training plans, raised a $2.9M seed round in February 2022. The round was led by General Catalyst, Norwest Venture Partners, and Zone 5 Ventures and follows The Breakaway's completion of Y Combinator’s accelerator program.

Social Connection

This category refers to companies that are building products with the primary objective of providing a social connection for people who participate in endurance sports. These companies often have auxiliary features focused on endurance training.

Representative Deal

1. Link My Ride is a cycling-focused app that helps riders organize, plan, and share rides with others. In August 2022, it received undisclosed funding from the Dutch Sports Tech Fund along with F1 star Valtteri Bottas.

2. Strava, one of the other Unicorn companies in the endurance sports space, raised a $110M Series F Round in late 2020. The investment was led by TCV and Sequoia, with participation from Dragoneer Group, Madrone Capital Partners, Jackson Square Ventures, and Go4it Capital. Strava is the go-to activity and fitness tracking platform for endurance sports and allows users to share, comment on, and like the activity profiles of others.

Endurance Nutrition

Endurance nutrition encompasses companies that develop consumable and hydration products aimed at endurance athletes or technology companies that help provide guidance geared toward nutritional needs.

Representative Deals

1. Hexis raised a $2M Pre-Seed round in May 2024, led by APEX, Sport Republic, and Dopamine Sports Ventures. Hexis provides an AI-driven fueling and nutrition platform for endurance athletes and aims to demystify the often complex nutritional needs of endurance sports.

2. Maurten, which was named a sponsor of the 2024 Paris Olympics, raised a $21.7M round led by IRIS Ventures in July 2024 to help grow its advanced carbohydrate fuel ecosystem. Maurten executives believe their nutritional products can go beyond the endurance sports world and have applications for the broader healthcare market.

Apparel

Apparel comprises companies creating performance, safety, and recovery clothing and accessories aimed specifically at endurance athletes.

Representative Deals

1. Vimazi, the maker of a DTC running shoe customized based on the foot and target pace of the runner, raised a $1M Seed 3 round in July 2022, bringing total funding to $2.6M.

2. Oofos, the maker of recovery-focused footwear, completed an Angel round led by professional athletes Derek Carr, Alex Smith, and Dawn Staley in March 2023. Oofos estimates holding a 73% share of the emerging active recovery footwear market.

3. Triathlon, cycling, and multi-sport apparel manufacturer Varlo Sports raised an undisclosed Seed Round from REI’s Path Ahead Ventures in January 2024.

Wearable Devices

Wearables are technology hardware that is worn on the body and provides biometric insight. They are a massive category with broad implications beyond endurance sports (What's Next for Wearable Devices), but below are some companies that are focusing specifically on applications in this market.

Representative Deals

1. Supersapiens is (was) a continuous glucose monitoring-based insights provider focused on endurance athletes. In 2021, the firm raised $13.5M at a $120M valuation from MICA Ventures. Due to an inability to get FDA approval for their Abbott Libre Sense sensor in the US and Canada, along with stiff competition from similar CGM-focused data providers, Supersapiens announced they were winding down operations in early 2024.

2. Myzone, a manufacturer of endurance-focused wearable fitness technology, raised $17.2M in January 2022 at a valuation of $102M. The investment was led by BGF and Vin Murria.

Emerging Pro Leagues

I’ll explore this further in Part 4 of this series, but a number of startups are looking to build endurance-focused professional leagues, which currently represent a greenfield opportunity in the professional sports space.

Representative Deals

1. Urban, Crit-style cycling league, National Cycling League, raised a $7.5M Seed Round in December 2022 in a round led by Will Ventures and with participation from Founder Collective, Collab Capital, Impellent Ventures, and various professional athletes. The minority-led, women-led league had its inaugural season in 2023 with races in Miami, Atlanta, Denver, and Washington DC. Unfortunately, they did not receive the initial traction they had expected and paused operations in 2024, releasing all athletes from their contracts. It’s unclear if NCL will attempt to reboot in 2025.

2. In December 2022, the Professional Triathletes Organization completed a $30M Series B round led by Divergent Investments, Sir Michael Mortiz, and Warner Bros Discovery. The league is attempting to promote the sport of triathlon through high-profile, high-prize events globally.

Other

Finally, I wanted to include a catchall category to highlight a few interesting companies that didn’t neatly fit into one of the above-mentioned buckets.

Representative Deals

1. Muuvr, an activity app for motivating and rewarding runners, cyclists, and triathletes, raised a $4.16M Post Seed Rund in December 2023.

2. Body Rocket, which measures aerodynamic drag force management through sensors on a bike's seat post, handlebars, and pedals, raised $430k in a round in October 2022.

3. Belgium-based Classified Cycling raised 22M euros in November 2022 to continue developing its innovative drivetrain hardware for cyclists and compete against incumbents Shimano and SRAM. The round was led by Active Partners, and cycling brands Rapha and Evans Cycles.

4. The Pro’s Closest, a pre-owned bicycle marketplace, raised a $12M growth equity round from Edison Partners, Ridgeline Group, and Foundry Group in late 2020. They followed this up with a $40M Series B round in 2021 and a $20M Series C in January 2024.

Market Map

Conclusion

There are numerous investment themes for venture capital investors within the endurance race industry. Perhaps what is most exciting and provides the most promise for power law dynamic type returns is the opportunity for startups to use endurance races as a proving ground for eventual expansion into other sports or healthcare in general.

Ultimately, I’m excited about the investment potential in endurance sports-focused early-stage technology for the same reason that I’m excited about endurance event operating companies: the future growth of the experience economy. As Events.com CEO Mitch Thrower stated, “People increasingly value experiences above purchases. We’re here to help people experience the most meaningful moments of their lives with the best technology available.”

Thanks, as always, for reading. In my next post in this series, I’ll explore the emerging endurance-focused professional leagues.