Currents has acquired Startup Striders, the fast-growing founder running community created by Startmate chief executive Michael Batko, in an all-cash deal. The transaction, backed by Gold Coast-based community-building group Currents and its supporter Torus Ventures, transfers a 1,300-strong membership across Australia and New Zealand into Currents’ portfolio. While the purchase price remains undisclosed, both parties present the move as a strategic handover designed to preserve and scale the community rather than a pure commercial exit.
Origins and growth of Startup Striders
Startup Striders began in 2023 as a simple Saturday morning run and coffee meetup in Sydney, conceived by Batko as a “habit hack.” What started as a small routine evolved into a sizable network of founders and operators, now coordinated through more than 30 WhatsApp groups spanning cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Newcastle. Over nearly three years, the group expanded to more than 1,300 members across Australia and New Zealand without paid marketing, a revenue model or formal infrastructure.
From LinkedIn post to acquisition
The sale was triggered by a public LinkedIn post from Batko, in which he openly invited someone to take over the community. He explained that while he intends to keep running with the group, he no longer has the time or mental bandwidth to give the initiative the focus it requires. Currents responded to that call, ultimately agreeing an all-cash acquisition that sees Batko fully exit with no retained equity, while remaining on as an advisor through December to smooth the transition.
Volunteer-led structure and community impact
Throughout its growth, Startup Striders has relied on volunteer city leads instead of formal staff or centralized operations. Those leaders, who have been coordinating weekly runs and fostering local subcommunities, received a share of the deal proceeds and were given discretion on how to allocate them, with most opting to donate their portion to charity. Perth city lead Oliver Tweddel highlighted that the club has become a weekly touchpoint for founders and operators, combining exercise with ongoing peer support and insight-sharing.
Why Currents stepped in
Currents, run by Jason Atkins and Wade Foxx, saw Startup Striders as a natural extension of its own founder-focused events and programming. With more than 500 members and event attendance more than doubling in 2025, Currents already had momentum as a startup community platform before the acquisition. Atkins said the appeal lay in Striders’ consistency, energy and genuine relationships, and indicated that Currents’ goal is to protect the existing culture while giving it additional scale.
A deal aligned with a broader run club boom
The acquisition lands at a time when running communities are enjoying peak visibility and participation in Australia. The Sydney Run Club now counts more than 40,000 members, with recent viral footage showing crowds of runners occupying Bondi’s foreshore paths and drawing public attention. The 2024 Sydney Marathon received 79,000 applications for 35,000 available spots, underscoring the growing demand for organized fitness communities that combine social connection with wellness.
Plans to build a multi-sport platform
Under Currents’ ownership, Startup Striders is expected to evolve beyond its running-only format into a broader multi-sport community. Early plans include integrating activities such as cycling, pickleball, tennis, golf and other wellness-oriented pursuits to give founders more ways to connect outside typical networking events. The vision is to keep the casual, inclusive feel of a run club while offering a wider menu of touchpoints that suit different cities, seasons and fitness levels.
Infrastructure, funding model and future governance
One of Currents’ first priorities is to modernize Striders’ infrastructure, which currently relies heavily on fragmented WhatsApp groups. Working with The Community Collective, Currents is designing unified systems for onboarding, event management and city-lead coordination, with a more robust backbone expected to be in place around Christmas. The organization remains primarily volunteer-run and supported by Torus Ventures and modest event sponsorships, with a community manager hire planned for early 2026, while keeping events free to attend and using sponsorships from startup service providers, platforms and venture firms to cover costs.
For Batko, the sale represents a clean handover of a project that outgrew its original scope, while he stays on as an active runner rather than the primary organizer. For Currents, it marks its largest community acquisition to date and a chance to cement its role as a national hub for founder wellness and connection. If the planned multi-sport expansion and upgraded infrastructure materialize as intended, Startup Striders could shift from a beloved local run club into one of the most visible, cross-city founder communities in Australia and New Zealand.
Source: StartupCompany