AllTrails is a fitness and travel

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

used in outdoor

recreational activities Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

. AllTrails is commonly used for outdoor activities such as

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

and

snow sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold area ...

. The service allows users to access a database of

trail maps A trail map is a map used to aid in navigation and can symbolize an assorted amount of information of a particular area or contain only a single representation of the data it represents. Overview Trail maps are produced in a variety of scales, si ...

, which includes crowdsourced reviews and images. Depending on a user's

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

status these resources can be used online and

offline In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

. AllTrails first launched in 2010 within the

AngelPad AngelPad is an American seed-stage startup incubator, launched in September 2010 by Thomas Korte and Carine Magescas with six other former Google employees as mentors. AngelPad provides mentorship, seed money, and networking at two 10-week cours ...

accelerator program and gained seed funding shortly thereafter from the firms 500 Global (previously

500 Startups 500 Global (previously 500 Startups) is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California ...

) and 2020 Ventures. In 2018, AllTrails was acquired by

Spectrum Equity Spectrum Equity is an American growth equity firm that invests in businesses related to the information economy. The company operates out of offices in Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA. The company was an early investor in Ancestry.com and Grubhub ...

. AllTrails operates on a

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...

business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...

. It is accessible through a

or a web browser for computers.

History

Founding

AllTrails was founded in 2010 by Russell Cook. It was accepted into AngelPad's inaugural class. This incubation period preceded its official launch in December 2010.

2011-2012

In 2011, within one year of its launch, AllTrails gained $400k in

seed funding Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

from two venture capital funds. A major partnership between

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

and AllTrails was announced in early 2012. This partnership gave the app a boost to its user base and augmented its mapping data. This partnership resulted in National Geographic's Topo.com being merged and redirected to AllTrails. In Q4 of 2012, AllTrails crossed the 1 million install milestone. In 2018, though the company was said to be cash flow positive, it announced a new round of funding which ultimately resulted in its acquisition.

2015-2017

In August 2016, AllTrails announced that it had acquired EveryTrail from TripAdvisor, who had formerly acquired the company in 2011. AllTrails was listed in the 100 Best Android Apps of 2017 by PhanDroid.

2018-2019

In 2018, Spectrum Equity provided $75M in funding to AllTrails in exchange for a majority position in the company. This infusion of capital enabled the company to focus on business expansion and to attract additional talent. At that time, Ben Spero and Matt Neidlinger of Spectrum joined AllTrails’ board of directors. In May 2019, AllTrails announced that the app was available in French, German and Spanish. Formerly, the app had only been available in English. AllTrails partnered with Rolling Strong in December 2019 to help truck drivers stay fit and healthy on the road.

2020

In the summer of 2020, Apple partnered with AllTrails to add hiking information to their

Apple Maps Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by Apple Inc. The default map system of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, it provides directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation navigation. ...

. This was largely in response to the growing popularity of outdoor activities during the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The global COVID pandemic did not hurt the app as individuals reconnected with nature and outdoor activities for instance hiking while working from home. These trends in behavior contributed to "8.7 million users" installing the application in 2020 which is a "89%" increase from the previous yea

2021

In early 2021, All Trails broke the news that it had officially reached 1 million paid subscribers.

Operation

Registration is required on All Trails. Users can register via Apple Inc., Apple,

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

or by manually entering their name,

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

and password. Once a user has registered, they will be able to search and explore trails which is the core value proposition of the app. Upon arriving at a trail, a user will be able to see information about the trail, track their activity, or even add new trails to the service. additional features have been added lately but a user must purchase a subscription in order to access them.

Features

All Trails operates on a freemium service. Users can access the app's advanced features via a subscription service called AllTrails Pro.

Users

As of January 2012, All Trails had reached 200,000 users. In that year, AllTrails partnered with

NatGeo ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

. By the end of the year it had crossed the 1 million install mark. As of August 2020, all trails claim a global user base of over 20 million in more than 100 countries.

Acquisitions

Since its founding in 2010, All Trails has acquired four organizations: Every Trail, Gpsies, , Trails.com. With the exception of GPSies, all other apps were either integrated into the company or discontinued as of July 2020. * The GPSies acquisition was announced on July 30, 2019. * The Trails.com acquisition was announced on July 18, 2019. * The acquisition was announced on April 24, 2019. * The EveryTrail acquisition was announced on August 16, 2016. All acquisitions were made for undisclosed sums.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.alltrails.com/ Android (operating system) software Collaborative mapping GIS software Google Maps Internet properties established in 2010 IOS software Mobile route-planning software Web Map Services Route planning websites