Investing carries serious risks, including partial or total loss of capital. Please read the Key Investment Information Sheet and the Risk factors and login before investing.
The global running community includes over 600 million participants, with 1.1 million marathon finishers each year. Digital adoption is now mainstream, more than 70% of runners use apps such as Strava or smartwatches like Garmin to track their runs.
Key growth drivers:
Strong yearly growth in running app usage (+14%)
Rapid adoption of AI-based fitness coaching (+20–30% per year)
Runners’ growing focus on injury prevention and recovery
Local Roots, Global Reach
Belgium is our home base and first European launch market. At the same time, SmartRunning benefits from a unique international partnership with Coach Parry, South Africa’s leading online marathon coaching platform. The Coach Parry community includes 2,500+ active runners, many preparing for world-class events like the Comrades and Cape Town Marathons. This partnership gives SmartRunning direct access to an active running community and decades of practical coaching experience, helping us refine our AI model with real-world data and proven training insights from day one. Therefore, our launch starts in South Africa, followed by Belgium and broader European markets. This phased rollout ensures credibility, traction, and efficient scaling.
Validated by Runners
Our concept has also been validated through three large community surveys (Worldwide, Belgium and South Africa). Results confirm a strong demand for affordable, personalized, and injury-preventive training, directly supporting our product design and pricing model.
Market Potential & Expansion
The potential for marathon coaching apps is estimated at €60–70 million within five years. SmartRunning aims to capture 10% of this market, reaching €10 million in annual revenue.
While our initial focus is on marathon runners, the underlying AI technology is designed for easy expansion to other running distances (half marathons, trail, and ultra-endurance) and later to other endurance sports like cycling or triathlon, creating a clear path for scalable growth beyond the marathon market.
Competition Landscape
The market for digital marathon coaching is growing rapidly, with several established apps validating strong demand for guided training. However, most competitors still rely on static or semi-adaptive plans, leaving a clear gap for truly personalized and injury-preventive coaching.
Today’s main players include Runna, Trenara, Coopah, and Garmin’s AI-based features. Each serves specific niches, but all show limitations that SmartRunning is uniquely positioned to address:
Runna (UK): Large user base and strong brand, but only manually adjustable or semi-static training plans. Recovery and fatigue are not deeply integrated into load management.
Trenara (Belgium): Solid local traction and moderate adaptivity, but limited AI depth and a model that primarily adjusts based on historical data rather than real-time physiology.
Coopah (UK): Focuses on motivation and community challenges rather than scientific training progression; minimal injury-prevention logic.
Garmin AI Coach: Convenient for device users, but device-locked, limited in training-context interpretation, and not fully transparent or explanatory in its adjustments.
In contrast, SmartRunning offers features that sets it apart:
Real-time AI adaptivity (plans adjust after every session)
Built-in injury-prevention logic based on polarized training and load-management science
Transparent explanations (“the why”) that build trust for recreational runners
Device-agnostic integration (Garmin, Strava, Apple Watch)
The competitive landscape confirms a validated market, but also shows a clear innovation gap. SmartRunning fills that gap with the only solution built from the ground up to keep recreational runners injury-free, confident, and on track through fully adaptive, scientifically guided training.
TAX SHELTER
45%
Investments in this company benefit from a 45% personal income tax reduction. Read more…
A remaining amount of €341,500 is available for the Tax Shelter benefit.
