Blocked by Strava, Zyla becomes a rival focused on running clubs. Platform wants to reach 1 million athletes by the end of 2026 and plans to internationalize in 2027 through a partnership with Wellhub. 25/09/2026 11:15 In operation for less than two years, Zyla started as a running coaching service via WhatsApp and today is a complete AI training app, with 144,000 active athletes. After reaching breakeven in January, the company now wants to position itself as a direct competitor to Strava, the activity-tracking platform beloved by amateur athletes. Ironically, the trigger for rivaling the North American platform came from Strava itself, which was integrated into Zyla's system. "We had 50,000 connections available on Strava for athletes registered in our app. We were getting close to that limit and asked them to release more, but they didn't. Our intention was to continue using Strava as a partner, but since they blocked us, the remaining option was to become a competitor," jokes Guilherme Monteiro, CEO of Zyla, in an interview with Startups. The consequence was the development of its own GPS, recently launched. Until then, Zyla depended on integrations with platforms such as Strava, Garmin and Apple Watch to receive users' workout data. With the new system, the startup now also controls activity tracking. "Today running clubs use WhatsApp to create chat groups, create payment links on Pagar.me, launch challenges on GymRats, and have to log people's workouts on Strava. We feel there is room for us to become a control point, offering everything so these running clubs can manage their business," explains Guilherme. Currently, Zyla's platform offers, in addition to tailored training plans, spaces for conversations among users and challenges - including ones sponsored by brands. Soon, the app will launch exclusive spaces within the platform. "It will be a place where people can gather and create events, challenges and chat groups only for members of that club. It is a more private format, heavily focused on bringing running clubs into Zyla," adds the CEO. Samy Waintraub, COO of Zyla, highlights that running clubs are today the great engines of the running market, but they still have pain points that the market does not address. Among them, management and monetization of the business. "They have a very important asset, which is the community, the people, but they lack knowing how and where to charge, what to charge," he says. Despite targeting the same audience as Strava, Zyla avoids positioning itself as a direct replacement for the experience that made the North American platform famous. The strategy, according to the founders, is not to compete for the spotlight of running communities, but to provide the infrastructure for each club to build its own brand within the app. Growth and internationalization. The company's plan is to reach 1 million active athletes by the end of 2027 and around R$ 10 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) starting next year, when the new positioning as a complete platform, and not just a coaching service, should be more mature. "We still don't have much idea of the go-to-market potential of this new format. We just hope it is very large," ponders Samy. Zyla's main source of revenue currently comes from a distribution partnership with Wellhub, a corporate benefits app. The platform's own subscriptions are the second source of billing. The company does not disclose revenue figures, but says it has been operating profitably since February. Zyla raised its only round to date in June 2025, worth about R$ 500,000 with angel investors. With a profitable operation and cash on hand, the startup does not plan to raise more external capital for now. With 12 employees, Zyla intends to keep its structure lean even in the face of ambitious growth targets, which also include internationalization plans, starting with the United States. "Starting in the first quarter of next year, we should expand a lot together with Wellhub, which is growing outside the country, especially in the United States. They have already asked us to internationalize our app. We are finishing some adjustments and, starting in January 2027, we will begin to look very strongly at internationalization," says Guilherme. But while expansion abroad is viewed with optimism, the founders make a point of stressing that the process will be more complex than merely making the app available in English. "It is not enough to translate the app; the issue is translating what generates value. If we expand to the United States, we will need to understand the American running clubs market and replicate the thesis. First we will get this new model right, in this last quarter, and then replicate it in the United States and abroad," says Samy. Competition with Strava is also far from simple, acknowledges the executive: "It is a gigantic app and we are aware of that. But there is a very large space, especially in Brazil, with some nuances that we are beginning to grasp and that we believe can make our app grow." One of these nuances, according to the founders, is giving running clubs the possibility of having their own brand within the app. That is, the idea is that, when sharing the workout on social media, for example, the athlete has a screen with the club's visual identity, and not Zyla's or Strava's. "We want to be the catalyst space for these communities to exist and grow," says the CEO. Startups is part of the routine of more than 30,000 decision-makers. 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Strava app features updated across strength, maps, and smartwatch integrations. September 25, 2026 Strava has rolled out a series of product updates, introducing revamped strength visualisations, enhanced mapping details, AI integration, and smartwatch support. Introduced in users' feeds in recent weeks, a key update for strength training includes a visual muscle map that highlights targeted muscle groups based on completed sets. The platform has also expanded its strength tracking integrations to include third-party apps Lyfta, Gravl, and Hybrd. And if the app is set to a language other than English, exercise search now supports handling of English exercise names. This means that search for 'deadlift', 'bench press', or 'push-up', for example, can be used to find the corresponding exercise in a user's app language. Mapping functionality has been updated with ranked trails, difficulty grading, readable cliff edges, and defined park borders. Mountain bike trails now feature colour-coded difficulty levels and direction-of-travel arrows, while landmarks such as trailheads, peaks, and viewpoints are highlighted across zoom levels. Strava subscribers can connect their accounts to AI assistant Claude to query workout metrics, including exercise details, sets, weights, reps, and location data. On iOS devices, new lock screen widgets provide direct access to the Home, Maps, or You tabs in the Strava app, while existing home screen widgets allow athletes to monitor weekly mileage and progress toward goals. Alongside the product features, the platform has opened applications for the third year of its Strava Metro for Academic Researchers Programme. Applications for the programme are open until 01:00 BST on October 24, 2026. The programme provides students and researchers with free access to de-identified Strava Metro data to support active transportation and pedestrian infrastructure research.