Under Armour tech push seen as good for startups

Listen to this article

As far as Deb Tillett is concerned, Under Armour has always been a tech company.

The president of Baltimore’s Emerging Technology Centers – the Baltimore Development Corporation nonprofit that supports local tech startups – called it both “inspirational and aspirational” that the Baltimore-based sportswear company is now making a pointed push into the tech world.

Under Armour announced last week that it was spending $560 million to snap up two fitness tracking platforms: Denmark-based Endomondo and San Francisco-based MyFitnessPal.

But the sweat-wicking clothes that launched Under Armour were a technology advancement in itself, Tillett said, making this latest move a natural progression in the increasingly tech-enabled world of sports and fitness.

“The inspirational part is that it’s happening here, is that it’s in our own cool backyard,” she said.

Under Armour previously made a foray into fitness tracking with the Armour39 performance-monitoring module and chest strap, meant to tally heart rate and calories burned. In December 2013, the company purchased Austin-based MapMyFitness for $150 million, gaining access to more than 20 million users who mapped their runs, walks, hikes and bike rides through the web platform.

Last month, Under Armour unveiled UA Record, an app for tracking and sharing fitness activity, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And when the company announced last week that it had topped $3 billion in sales in 2014, it also trumpeted ownership of what it called “the world’s largest digital health and fitness community” following its new app acquisitions, boasting more than 120 million registered users.

The acquisitions also serve as encouragement for the innovation communities in Baltimore and the state, said Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of business incubator bwtech@UMBC.

“A lot of small companies – not just in the fitness space or the health space – when they build their companies, they’re always thinking about exits,” Hemmerly said. “So when a company can see a major business like Under Armour investing in technologies and buying other tech companies, I think it’s a real encouragement to entrepreneurs that there are potentially exits for them.”

More broadly, it’s an affirmation of being on the right track.

“If somebody as big as Under Armour can get involved in the wearables industry and tracking, then there’s something there,” Tillett said. “Then there’s a validation.”

Tillett said she has introduced several of the companies in the ETC portfolio to Under Armour contacts over the years. There haven’t been any collaborations yet, but she said there is “certainly interest” from Under Armour.

In the meantime, there are several tech startups Tillett can think of working in the fitness space, including ShapeU, a member of this year’s AccelerateBaltimore class, in which startups receive $25,000 and 13 weeks of mentoring. The web platform and app pairs users with physical trainers based on their fitness goals.

“It’s fascinating to think that maybe this is kind of springing out of the energy they see at Under Armour,” Tillett said.