Strava Lays Off Employees, Significantly Raises Prices
The popular app received heavy criticism for increasing costs without directly informing users why.
Strava, the most popular social networking app for endurance athletes and fitness enthusiasts, laid off 38 employees in December 2022. Multiple former Strava employees confirmed the news on LinkedIn. According to a post from an unaffected Strava employee, the layoff equated to 14% of the company’s workforce.
The layoffs predated the reported uptick in price for premium features. However, price increases differed across users.
A support article on its website went into further detail, but users were not directly contacted. Beginning on February 2, updated pricing goes into effect for subscribers. However, only subscribers in select regions — which includes Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Spain, the UK and the US — that purchased a subscription before November 23, 2022 receive a price bump.
“While our subscription price has largely remained constant for the past years, we also take local market conditions into consideration,” the post reads. “When costs and plans are adjusted, we’re always working to improve your experience and invest in the value delivered to you on a daily basis. Pricing decisions will continuously be evaluated to ensure we are offering the best value of our growing features to our community.”
Strava was founded in 2009 by Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath. The app has 95 million users according to Business of Apps.
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