MapMyFitness scores $5M in Series A

Austin Ventures backs the social network site for fitness junkies

MapMyFitness Inc., a social network for health and fitness, has scored $5 million in series A financing led by Austin Ventures. 

MapMyFitness has been on the forefront of fitness tracking in mobile and social media, and has created an engaging community around health and fitness, said Mike Dodd, Austin Ventures partner and MapMyFitness board member, In a statement released Tuesday on Austin Ventures’ Web site.

The Denver-based startup hosts a suite of fitness-related Web sites, including MapMyRide.com, MapMyWalk.com, MapMyTri.com, MapMyHike.com, MapMyRun.com, and MapMyMountain.com, in addition to MapMyFitness.com.  Users can create an account, set a fitness goal, create and track their routes and fitness plans, and share their health goals with a community of other fitness-minded users.  I personally experimented with MapMyRun.com last year when I tried my hand at running (asthma, duck-feet, and a preference for sleeping in killed that love affair before it got off the ground).  Using advanced topographical maps, users can plan out their routes to account for distance, incline, and terrain.

MyMyFitness plans on moving its headquarters to Austin, Texas, where its investor is located, but will continue to maintain its presence in Denver as well.

Created in 2006, the sites have drawn a community of over 2,400,000 global users and experience between 30,000 and 60,000 uploads per day.  The company targets iPhone, Android, and Blackberry users and provides mobile location-based apps so that users can create and share their routes and workout routines.

Other companies have also developed to reach out to athletes online.  RunKeeper has an app that allows users to track the pace, distance, time, and elevation of their runs and sync the data to RunKeeper.com, where they can view their histories.  Similarly, MotionX-GPS, developed exclusively for the iPhone, allows users to view live speed and altitude graphs, incline gradient information, and store terrain maps, among other features.

MapMyFitness Inc. takes route-mapping and athletic training directly into the social sphere by enabling users to find fitness friends with similar health goals who live in the same city or county.  Users also have the option of joining online groups or training clubs based out of their home town.  The MapMyFitness network currently has 15 million user-recorded workouts, complete with community and user feedback. MapMyFitness has experienced massive growth since its initial start in 2006, and it has monetized this growth through online advertising. 

Another advantage that MapMyFitness has over its competitors is the fact that it is not fitness device-specific.  Users can upload data from a number of different fitness-tracking devices. 

Neither MapMyFitness nor Austin Ventures could be reached for comment.

Image source: maniacmarcom.com