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Fitbit company history timeline

2007

Park recalled that he started the company in April 2007 after realizing the potential of sensors such as accelerometers paired with smaller and smaller devices.

In 2007, our founders, Eric and James, realized that sensors and wireless technology had advanced to a point where they could bring amazing experiences to fitness and health.

2008

October 2008 – Fitbit went for its first round of funding.

2010

Devine served as Senior Vice President, Global Operations at Palm, Inc., a smartphone company acquired by The Hewlett-Packard Company in July 2010.

September 2010 – The second round of funding took place, where Fitbit raised $8 million.

2011

October 2011 – Fitbit Ultra with iPhone app was launched.

The first tracker was pretty good, but in 2011 Fitbit improved it by adding an altimeter, a digital clock and a stopwatch.

In 2011, however, that caused a little bit of a problem: it turned out that users who recorded their sexual activity (in terms of time spent, not what they spent the time doing) were unwittingly sharing that information with the world, and with Google.

2012

September 2012 – Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip were launched, which can connect directly to smartphones via Bluetooth Smart.

2013

March 2013 – Fitbug, a London-based startup filed a lawsuit against Fitbit for trademark infringement and unfair business practices.

August 2013 – Fitbit raised $43 million from both existing and new investors.

October 2013 – Fitbit Force was launched.

2014

January 2014 – Fitbit released an update to its app to enable passive tracking.

February 2014 – Fitbit Force was recalled upon receiving a number of complaints from users about skin irritation or rashes after wearing the tracker.

March 2014 – HTC, the Android smartphone maker announced the preloading of Fitbit’s app on all HTC One smartphone.

In August 2014, US Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer singled out Fitbit as a "privacy nightmare" and - in all-caps - declared that "WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE, FITBIT BRACELETS & SMARTPHONE APPS ARE TRACKING USER'S MOVEMENTS AND HEALTH DATA THAT COULD BE SOLD TO THIRD PARTIES."

In December 2014, a personal injury lawyer in Canada used Fitbit data in what's believed to be the first case of its kind.

2015

March 2015 – Fitbit acquired FitStar, a fitness coaching app developer.

It started the FitForFood program in 2015, where Fitbit users were to exchange calories burnt for food to be donated to Feeding America.

How Fitbit broke through the wearable tech arms race to become a household name, achieve a $4.1bn IPO in 2015, and what happened next.

Since its decision to go public was announced, the company became embroiled in two lawsuits in 2015, pursued by big rival Jawbone, over its sleep tracking claims by a consortium of claimants and heart rate data accuracy came under scrutiny.

Xiaomi, which launched its first Mi Band in 2015, has also become a thorn in Fitbit’s side, offering comparative features at a fraction of the price.

2016

Fitbit users were in for a major shock in January 2016, when they found their accounts being hacked by cyber hackers.

February 2016 – Fitbit Alta was released.

In 2016, the International Trade Commission cleared Fitbit of any misappropriation of trade secrets from its rival Jawbone.

2017

Jeff Devine has served as our Executive Vice President of Operations since February 2017.

March 2017 – Fitbit Alta HR was released.

However, Jawbone soon pulled out of the wearables market, and claims were settled in 2017.

2018

Ron Kisling has served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer since June 2018.

Jacob Koby Avital has served as our Executive Vice President of Engineering since July 2018.

In 2018 revenues started tumbling, and despite the Fitbit Versa setting a record for the fastest selling product in the company’s history, the follow up Versa Lite was not a financial success.

2022

Lightspeed Closes $500 Mn Fund To Invest In India The India fund is part of the $7 Bn raised by the VC firm to fund early and growth-stage entrepreneurs across the globe Ayush BansalJuly 13, 2022

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Founded
2007
Company founded
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
Company headquarter
Founders
James Park,Eric N. Friedman,Aatu Nieminen
Company founders
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Fitbit competitors

Company nameFounded dateRevenueEmployee sizeJob openings
Google1998$350.0B139,9954,048
HP1939$53.6B53,000427
Palo Alto Networks2005$8.0B11,0981,177
Juniper Networks1996$5.1B9,400-
Librato, Inc.-$13.0B63,800-
Intel1968$53.1B121,100400
Netgear1996$673.8M1,00818
F51996$2.8B6,550206
Dell1984$95.6B165,000151
Under Armour1996$5.7B16,4001,005

Fitbit history FAQs

Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Fitbit, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Fitbit. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Fitbit. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Fitbit. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Fitbit and its employees or that of Zippia.

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