

“Both companies firmly believe that together we can build a unique product portfolio and unparalleled customer journey for our existing community members and future users,” he wrote. He also pledged “more ideas, products and optimizations” are in the pipeline, backed by the resources of its new parent. Writing on the Runtastic blog, Gschwandtner said Runtastic will remain its “own entity” within the adidas Group, and will continue to operate from its current offices in Linz, Austria, Vienna and San Francisco.

The largest shareholder in Runtastic was German media giant Axel Springer, via its investment subsidiary Axel Springer Digital Ventures - which owned 50.1 percent of the company, so gets the biggest payout here. Other main shareholders were Austrian business angel Dr Johann Hansmann and company founders Florian Gschwandtner, Alfred Luger, René Giretzlehner and Christian Kaar - who will all be continuing to run Runtastic within the adidas Group.

The European app maker, which was founded in Austria back in 2009, before the quantified self movement got into its full stride, has more than 20 fitness, health and endurance apps to its name, and also plays in the hardware space with wearables and other fitness monitors. Runtastic’s apps have garnered more than 140 million downloads in total, with around 70 million registered users at the point of acquisition. The transaction was signed and closed today. The deal values Runtastic at €220 million ($240 million). The news was announced today in a blog post. Long time fitness app maker Runtastic has been acquired by sportswear brand adidas Group.
