👟 Founder spotlights, Strava leads in social fitness & Pitch Day invite

🔔 Your campaign updates feed

👟 Hettas featured in BMO Canadian Business Magazine + Meet the Founders

Hettas is featured as a BMO’s Canadian Business Magazine fall advertising campaign, which includes a featured article and advertisement placement in publications and social media. Furthermore, Hettas is hosting a live Meet the Founder + Q&A session October 21st, learn more here!

Invest in Hettas | $77K Raised | 31% of target

🔋RheEnergise’s solution to meet NYC’s energy needs

RheEnergise offers a scalable and environmentally friendly pumped-storage hydropower solution to address New York’s growing energy storage gap.This reliable solution can be applied not only in New York but also globally, providing communities with clean, dependable, and scalable energy storage.

Invest in RheEnergise | $3.2M Raised | 63% of target

🔔 Alumni updates

💳 Manzil’s founder and CEO, Dr. Mohamad Sawwaf spoke at Elevate Fest 2025, sharing Manzil’s journey and company values.

🚁AIRmarket thanked the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) Flight 176 for the opportunity to share an update on the iART Operational Evaluation in Edmonton and connecting with the local aviation community.

🤔 What’s on our minds

🏃‍♂️ Strava Sets the Pace in the Social Fitness

In the current new age of social apps, Strava is setting the pace. With more run clubs emerging and marathon sign-ups hitting record highs, the San Francisco–based fitness platform is gearing up for an IPO that could cement its role as a global social-wellness hub. Now boasting over 50 million monthly users and a valuation of US $2.2 billion, Strava has begun interviewing banks for a potential 2026 debut.

A broader “running renaissance” is driving this momentum, especially among younger demographics who increasingly see running clubs as an alternative to nightlife. That surge has fueled 80% user growth and pushed annual recurring revenue near US $500 million. To build on it, Strava has acquired Runna, The Breakaway, and FATMAP, these moves signal a move toward a full-stack training and community ecosystem.

⚔️ Tensions on the Track

However, Strava’s road to an IPO comes with hurdles. A legal clash with Garmin over branding and data-sharing underscores its reliance on hardware partners, a key pillar of the user experience. Any fallout could disrupt engagement and growth. At the same time, mounting competition from Apple, Google, and emerging fitness platforms is pushing Strava to strengthen user loyalty and diversify revenue beyond premium subscriptions.

🚀 IPO and the Next Lap

Strava CEO Michael Martin has confirmed plans to list on a U.S. exchange, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reportedly lined up as lead underwriters. Proceeds from the IPO are expected to fund acquisitions, global expansion, and AI-driven product innovation.

Analysts view the offering as a key indicator for the fitness-social space: 

• A strong listing could signal investor confidence in community-driven wellness models.

• A weak one might suggest the running boom isn’t enough to support a large-cap tech multiple.

Ultimately, Strava’s ability to balance rapid growth with platform stability and strategic independence will shape its future on Wall Street.

📌 Final Thoughts

Strava’s has been built on its community, culture, and data. The outcome of its IPO could shape more than just its own future. A strong debut could validate the market for community-driven wellness platforms, attract new investment into the fitness-tech space, and give Strava the capital to scale globally through acquisitions and product innovation. But a sluggish reception could signal investor skepticism around the durability of the running boom and the limits of subscription-based monetization in a crowded market.

Much will hinge on Strava’s ability to sustain growth while preserving platform stability and maintaining independence from hardware partners and Big Tech rivals. In many ways, Strava is testing the market’s belief in the business of social fitness.

🎙️ Hear from our latest founder feature

RheEnergise: Creating low-cost, secure, zero-carbon power grids with Dr. Tamás Bertényi

Q: For those who might not know, what exactly is the problem you’re solving?

The sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow and they rarely line up with when we actually need power. To fix that mismatch, we need massive amounts of energy storage. Right now, the world has built only about 2% of what’s required to hit 2040 climate goals. That’s staggering. Without scaling storage, we can’t scale renewables and that means we can’t complete the energy transition.

Q: So what makes Re-energize’s solution different?

Most storage today is conventional pumped hydro, meaning moving water up a mountain and letting it run back down through turbines. It works beautifully, but it’s slow and hard to scale. Projects take 18 years and billions of dollars, and you need just the right geography. Our breakthrough was swapping water for a fluid that’s 2.5x denser. That one shift means you don’t need mountains, hills will do. Suddenly, we unlock over a million viable sites around the world.

Q: Finally, what’s your vision for Re-energize in the bigger picture of climate tech?

It comes down to one word: scalability. Our mission is to provide a storage solution that can scale as fast as renewables are growing. If we can enable the world to unlock hills instead of mountains, to build thousands of projects instead of dozens, then we’ll have played a real role in completing the energy transition. And that’s what drives us every day.

🎧 Want to listen to the full episode?

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📌 FrontFundr Bulletin

🎤 FrontFundr Pitch Day Event!

The FrontFundr community is invited to join our live Pitch Day on October 23rd at 10 AM PST/ 1 PM EST. Featuring some of Canada’s most innovative companies currently raising capital on FrontFundr, including Matt Johnston of Collective Arts, Eric Little of Edison Motors, Lindsay Housman of Hettas, Isaac Hayes III of Fanbase and more to be announced. Space is limited to 100 attendees, so be sure to reserve your spot today! 

🎙️FrontFundr’s Trieste Reading guest on Wealth on Your Terms Podcast

Trieste Reading sits down with Tobi Adekeye to unpack the ins and outs of the private market, from investing in high-growth private companies to understanding the risks and building your portfolio. Watch the full interview here!

🏆FrontFundr has been nominated for the StartUp Community Awards!

We’re excited to announce that FrontFundr has been nominated for a Startup Community Awards, a recognition rooted in celebrating the champions, connectors, and catalysts shaping Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.