Strava, the activity tracking and social community platform used by more than 100 million people globally, has acquired Fatmap, a European company that’s building a high-resolution 3D global map platform for the great outdoors.

Whoop has won over investors and quickly became commonplace in pro sports, with early fans including LeBron James and Michael Phelps, and recently raising a USD 100 million Series E at a USD 1.2 billion valuation. Whoop is a monthly subscription for 24/7 health monitoring across sleep, recovery and strain, including free hardware (Whoop Strap 3.0) and a coaching platform designed to optimize behavior.

After raising a USD 66 million Series D funding in August to expand access to creative courses globally, Skillshare that it has raised new funding from Adobe, the global leader in creative software. The total amount of funding was not disclosed, but this latest raise is part of Skillshare’s Series D round announced this summer.

Digital fitness is on a run, literally, as training at home becomes the new normal. Peloton’s Q4 earnings showed a 172% YoY jump in revenue, and its connected subscribers were up 113% YoY, Apple announced Fitness Plus, its new virtual fitness product, and Zwift, an indoor training app, reached unicorn status after a USD 450 million funding round.

As the internet economy grows, so does the importance of last-mile delivery, which is the final step in the increasingly competitive and costly process of moving items to customers’ homes as quickly as possible. Quick commerce (“q-commerce”) offers significant growth potential expecting to reach a global market size of around Euro 448 billion by 2030.

The world’s leading brands in sports, gaming and technology starting to come together to give players and fans a more connected experience. Emerging technology is changing the way we engage with sports and converts supporters into avid fans through unique digital experiences and hyper-personalized content. As more immersive experiences become available, sports are attracting more people to experience it live and in the virtual world.

Zalando continues to push its Connected Retail program and has signed its first partnership with a mall specialist. The mail-order company has signed an agreement with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (“URW”), which is Europe’s biggest mall owner after its acquisition of Westfield around three years ago.

Apple’s Research App will allow anyone to opt into research studies and may help the company cement its place in the health ecosystem in the long run. The new app is a part of Apple’s big push into healthcare. Researchers have made no secret that they see big opportunities to learn about human health through all the data being collected by technology devices, such as Apple’s iPhone or Apple Watch. But rather than doing one-off studies, which Apple has done in the past, the Research App allows the company to operate multiple studies at once for a variety of organizations.

Google parent company Alphabet will buy Fitbit, putting the tech giant head-to-head with Apple in the fitness tracking and consumer health space. The deal values Fitbit around USD 2.1 billion at a fully diluted equity value.The acquisition makes a lot of sense as Google has spent years trying to break into the wearables market with its Wear OS platform, but it has struggled to make a real impact. Fitbit is offering Google an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market.

Thanks to technology consumers are spoiled for choice and access at ease. As users create a lot of data points, it offers companies valuable insights to better understand their customers and improve future experiences, in turn boosting their image, client loyalty, and reputation for the brand. The key is to balance experience management with intelligent enterprise technology.

The online clothing resale market has expanded 21 times faster than regular retail since 2016 and it is expected to more than double in size reaching USD 41 billion in the next three years, according to a report by online reseller ThredUp. With revenue increasing, brands and retailers that previously disliked resellers profiting from their wares are forced to act and acquire these up and coming players, in order to play a role in this market.

After the Stadium Goods takeover by Farfetch and GOAT merging with Flight Club last year, Foot Locker has announced a USD 100 million investment in GOAT entering the fast-growing USD 6 billion global sneaker reselling market.

Farfetch announced that it is acquiring sneaker and streetwear marketplace Stadium Goods in a deal that values the business at USD 250 million. The London-based fashion e-commerce platform is aiming to extend its reach in the growing luxury sneakers and streetwear market, as millennials account for a growing percentage of luxury sales and competitors are engaged in a digital land grab.

No one is immune to a bargain — not even those who can spend GBP 30,000 on a watch. At Watches of Switzerland, an authorised dealer, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak automatic in rose gold sells for GBP 42,600, but the same watch is on offer at "grey market" website Chrono24 from US dealer Watch My Diamonds for USD 34,850 (GBP 27,227). It is impossible to ignore that the grey market is becoming a powerful force in the watch industry, which is worth USD 62.5bn, according to Euromonitor.

Tech-backed delivery start-ups, in the form of UberEATS, Amazon, Grubhub, Deliveroo, Foodora and other on-demand services, have long been changing the access to restaurants. Now, restaurant owners are tweaking the industry business model, moving away from brick-and-mortar dining rooms and trying their hand at delivery-only services, known as virtual restaurants. 

After the announcement of LVMH Luxury Ventures investing into Stadium Goods, GOAT, the world’s leading digital sneaker marketplace, today released a public statement revealing a merger with sneaker consignment pioneer Flight Club. The merger brings together two leading brands in the sneaker space that combined, will deliver unparalleled mobile, web and retail shopping experiences. 

Venture capitalists continue to eye the growing streetwear market. After taking stakes in cult labels such as Supreme, Highsnobiety and Huf, this week investors targeted the sneaker resale marketplace Stadium Goods.

Depop was launched in 2011 when Simon Beckerman, an Italian entrepreneur, decided to make a new, hip online marketplace by creating an app that merged editorial and sales. He realised most of the decision-making in buying fashion was based on social references. So, his team designed the app with Instagram-style features, with “follow” and “like” buttons, comments and chat, already familiar to social media users.

The world’s online shopping giants are following smaller web retailers into what might appear to be the merchandising past. Amazon, Alibaba and most recently JD.com, are operating brick-and-mortar stores, joining companies such as the formerly web-only Warby Parker and Outdoor Voices and reoccurring pop-up events by the likes of Gymshark and Aday. Even Tencent, the Chinese games and social media giant, is doing deals in retail.

Call it the brick-and-mortar versus e-commerce problem. However, merging the two offers an opportunity to create a truly personalised experience both online and offline, which is why personalization is a top priority for organizations in 2018. Research shows that nearly three out of four consumers responding to personalized offers, recommendations or experiences.