Coopah Raises $1.9M for AI-Powered Run Coaching App
The official training app of the TCS London Marathon, Coopah offers personalized training plans, AI-powered feedback and motivational tools
Coopah, an AI-powered run coaching app, has raised £1.5 million ($1.9 million) in a seed funding round backed by the London Marathon, venture capital firms and a pair of big names in endurance sports.
London-based VC firms Redrice Ventures and Active Partners led the round, with participation from London Marathon Events, organizer of the TCS London Marathon, which previously backed Coopah in a pre-seed funding round. Alistair Brownlee MBE, a Gold Medal-winning English triathlete, and Ricky Simms, a prominent track-and-field agent whose clients include Usain Bolt, also participated in the seed round.
Founded in 2022 by running enthusiasts including Dan Strang and Peter Cooper, Coopah says its mission is to bring the “medicine of running to everyone.”
While running is experiencing a global resurgence thanks in part to the rise of run clubs, the London-based Coopah cites a concerning, if unsurprising, statistic: 58% of new runners quit within 30 days of starting their running journey.
To help people stick to their running goals, Coopah offers adaptive, personalized training plans, AI-powered workout feedback and community-driven motivational support to help people of all levels improve their performance. Features include personalized pacing, strength and conditioning workouts, and integrations with popular fitness devices and wearables.
Coopah offers an annual membership for $79.99 or a monthly option for $14.99. The app currently serves as the official training partner of the TCS London Marathon.
“We can’t wait to show the 500 million existing global runners, and the thousands of people that start running every day, the power of Coopah,” Strang said. “Securing these funds and bringing this group of high-quality investors on board is giving us the opportunity to invest in new growth channels which will put Coopah in front of the global running world.
With the funding, Coopah plans to scale its marketing efforts and invest in improving its app functionality, including making its training plans smarter and more social-friendly.
To help with those efforts, Coopah also announced the hiring of former Strava executive Gareth Nettleton as its new chief marketing officer. Nettleton previously led global marketing efforts for Strava, a fitness-focused social networking app that now counts over 125 million users.
“The world is in a physical and mental health crisis. Running is one of the things that we believe can have a huge impact on that. It is medicine for both body and mind,” Nettleton said. “I’m delighted to join Dan and Pete on this journey and look forward to scaling Coopah’s active community across the globe.”
Personal Training Apps Raise Cash
Coopah’s funding comes as personal training apps of all sorts gain traction with investors.
In 2o23, Ladder closed a $12 million Series A round for its app that matches users with daily strength training workouts. Zing Coach, an app that uses AI to create personalized workout support including form correction and body composition advice, raised $10 million in a combination of equity and debt financing earlier this year.
Runna, a run coaching app that provides “couch to 5 K” training plans for beginners along with more advanced programs for serious runners, raised an additional $6.3 million in late 2023, bringing its total amount raised at that time to over $10 million.