BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Imatra, an app which converts kilometres cycled into a 100% green and human-generated digital currency – Imatra Coin – plans to launch into the UK market, after first entering the Italian and Spanish markets.
Founded by Simone Toccafondi, currently an executive consultant with BMC, having previously spent fifteen years at Specialized, Imatra Sports Innovation brings together an app and a marketplace.
The app is “already active in 31 countries, offering cyclists the opportunity to turn kilometres ridden into digital currency which can be used to purchase an extensive range of products from over one hundred premium and luxury cycling brands via the Imatra marketplace.”
Using Imatra Coin, an ethical, non-speculative digital currency, will also offer Imatra community members access to a range of exclusive and limited-edition items.
The app, which is free to download, and available for iOS and Android, takes just a few steps, with cyclists able to start earning money immediately:
- Log in.
- Launch the app by clicking on ‘Start’ before setting off on a ride.
- At the end of a ride, click on ‘Stop’ to validate the route and end the activity.
Activity will be registered immediately, and the app will automatically calculate the kilometres, which will be converted into Imatra Coins.
The kilometres are calculated using an algorithm that calculates the conversion based on distance and gradient.
For every 25 normalised kilometres travelled, the user is entitled to 1 Imatra Coin worth between €0.5 and €4.00, depending on the type of product listed on imatra.com.
Soon, the Imatra community will also be able to exchange and buy Imatra Coins from others in what the business is calling “a circular and virtuous ecosystem”.
How to spend Imatra Coin
There are three different ways of purchasing items from the Imantra marketplace:
- Entirely in euros
- Entirely in Imatra Coins
- Partly in euros and partly in Imatra Coins.
Exceptions: Some products can only be purchased with digital currency.
Sustainability and health
The launch announcement points out that “one of the cornerstones of the Imatra application, and the whole project, is respect for the environment.”
The app makes it possible to visualise the actual CO2 savings, showing how each kilometre travelled on a bike positively impacts the environment.
Health also plays an important role in the brand’s philosophy. The aim of using the app is to develop a good habit, geared towards a healthy lifestyle, by promoting exercise and the outdoors.
The brand points out that “cycling requires muscle group activation, and greatly improves stamina, which helps to improve heart health, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, lowering blood pressure’ and increases levels of good cholesterol (HDL).” Riding a bike “also helps to burn calories and is an effective way to control body weight.”
In the business of doing good
Imatra’s mission is “based on individual and then global change, uniting the community in something that is much more than a sport, it is a true lifestyle, creating value and helping to make a difference, one pedal stroke at a time.”
International media coverage
The business aired its first, territory-specific, TV campaign, shown on Eurosport during the Tour de France, and has followed this with a campaign showing every day during Eurosport‘s live coverage of the Vuelta a España.”
