Runnin’City, RunMotion Coach and Running Care … Three tricolor apps for runners in the offensive phase

For running, 2020 will remain an ambivalent year: on the one hand, the number of runners increased sharply during confinement ; on the other, major races have been canceled or postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this unprecedented context, several French applications dedicated to this discipline are doing well and strengthening their position with their community.

Runnin’City: an international DNA

This is the case for example of Runnin’City, which publishes courses for runners allowing them to visit a city at the same time as they run. Obviously, this approach closely linked to tourism encountered difficulties at the start of the crisis. The number of sessions dropped from 1,070 to 750 per day before and after confinement. And the municipal elections, the second round of which was also delayed, penalized the start-up which sells its routes to local communities.

Even so, Runnin’City saw a 32% increase in orders in the first three quarters of 2020 compared to the entire previous year. “In France, we asked our users not to run because our routes encouraged them to go beyond the authorized kilometer during confinement, explains its CEO, Olivier Lebleu. But this was not the case elsewhere and for example we sold 30 courses to the city of Brussels, then 18 to Orléans once the restrictions were lifted. “

It was while focusing on neighboring countries that the Lyon nugget came across Sport City Tour, a Swiss company that offers fitness courses in 17 cities. “We had the opportunity to acquire it by chance and we did, says the entrepreneur. This operation allows us to open this country with already several references. “ At the same time, the company, whose income should reach 500,000 euros in 2020, develops white label apps for brands, an activity which accounts for 30% of its turnover.

RunMotion Coach and Running Care: taking care of runners

As for RunMotion Coach, the confinement also had a negative impact on the activity, which does not prevent it from completing this month a fundraising of 300,000 euros from business angels. “Without the Covid-19 crisis, we would have two or three times as many users, believes Romain Adam, co-founder with his twin brother Guillaume, and Paul Waroquier. We are going to take advantage of this financial transaction to develop marketing in the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain where we already have users. “ Because the international is one of the strengths of young Savoyard shoot. Its personalized coaching app is already known there through partnerships developed with races that took place abroad and where no major player has yet succeeded in breaking through.

RunMotion Coach cultivates its difference thanks to training plans adapted to the physical capacities of the runners, to their objectives, but also to the time available. When preparing for a long race, active people often have great difficulty following the sessions defined beforehand and can quickly lose pace. In addition, and for paying subscribers, the start-up offers a conversational robot that supports them according to their needs.

The digitization of support is also the credo of Running Care that targets injured runners. After having been part of the Adidas incubator at Station F, it begins its fundraising (1 million euros targeted) to expand abroad. With 70,000 subscribers and 10,000 active every month, it is also starting to expand its income through partnerships with sports stores that offer the app to their customers. With its class 1 medical device certification, it can move forward and deploy a device beyond injury, for example by including prevention through telephone advice.