Strava has filed confidential paperwork for a US IPO, and it’s doing it with some momentum. Subscriptions are up, revenue’s growing and the company looks ready to play on a bigger stage.
Multiple reports say the company has submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and has hired Goldman Sachs to help run the process. There is still plenty of flexibility on timing, but this is a clear signal that Strava thinks it is ready for closer inspection.
The company hasn’t released official revenue numbers, but third-party estimates suggest it pulled in around 180 million dollars from Premium subscriptions alone in the year leading up to September 2025. That’s up from roughly 132 million in 2023, pointing to steady growth in paid users. Even without full transparency, it’s clear subscriptions are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. That kind of momentum is exactly the sort of thing investors look for heading into an IPO.
Strava’s subscription model sets the tone
This isn’t just a Strava story. It ties into a wider shift in fitness tech, where more companies are trying to build subscription models on top of the hardware they sell. Whether that’s the right move for users is still up for debate, but it’s clearly where the industry is heading.
Garmin now puts some of its features behind a paywall. Whoop is entirely built around membership. Fitbit has doubled down on Premium with things like stress scores and wellness reports. Strava sits slightly apart from all this. It doesn’t sell hardware, but it’s become the layer that brings everything together.
The idea is simple. Once someone buys a device, you want them coming back – not just to use it, but to pay for extras that feel worth it. Strava was ahead of the curve there. It managed to convince users to pay not just for deeper analysis or route planning, but to stay part of a community.
The Garmin lawsuit that stirred things up
Strava also grabbed attention not long ago for taking Garmin to court. It accused them of copying heatmaps and segments, features Strava sees as part of its identity, and raised issues with Garmin’s developer rules, saying they made the experience worse for users.
The whole thing fizzled out fast. Strava dropped the lawsuit just a few weeks later without much explanation. It was a bit of a head-scratcher, especially since the two companies have long had one of the more seamless integrations in the space. One possible reason for the sudden pullback could be that Strava didn’t want a public fight hanging over its head with an IPO in the works.
Still, the episode showed how quickly relationships can shift when business goals change. Strava’s role in the wearables ecosystem isn’t all-powerful, but it is significant, especially for smaller platforms and older devices that rely on clean, reliable sync to keep users happy.
Too big to ignore
An IPO brings pressure to grow and monetise more. That could mean stricter paywalls, tighter API access or new limits on what third-party devices can do. For older watches or niche brands that rely on Strava to stay competitive, that’s a worry.
At the same time, Strava’s value lies in being that universal hub. It works because it plays nicely with everything. If that starts to change, it risks losing the very thing that made it popular in the first place.
Strava going public doesn’t change the direction of the wearables industry on its own. But it does reflect where things are headed – more subscriptions, more data-driven services and more pressure on platforms to prove their value.
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