Is Under Armour the next big player in fitness and wearables?

Under Armour
Under Armour has something up its sleeves

Under Armour today continued its push beyond nice workout digs and into the world of fitness tech with the acquisition of health and fitness companies Endomondo and MyFitnessPal.

Endomondo is a fitness-tracking platform and social network, while MyFitnessPal is focused on helping users achieve their fitness goals. The former was bought for $85 million (about £56m, AU$109m), the latter for $475 million (about £313m, AU$612m), reports TechCrunch.

Under Armour began its movement into the health tech space when it acquired the MapMyFitness app network in 2013. The company also partnered with HTC in early 2015 for its multiplatform UA Record tool, and they'll reveal an HTC and Under Armour fitness tracker wearable at MWC 2015 in March.

With the new purchases, Under Armour now claims it has the biggest digital health and fitness community in the world, with 120 million registered users total.

Under Armour seems to be setting itself up as a major player in the digital health and fitness world, with wearables, apps and a platform where all these gadgets and services are synced and connected.

Keep in mind this is a company that until a couple of years ago primarily made socks. It's unclear how far they'll go with this, but the Under Armour brand does carry some weight and the purchase of Endomondo and, in particular, the popular MyFitnessPal prove the company is in it to win.

For now both newly acquired companies will continue to operate out of their current headquarters.

Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.

Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.