VALD buys BridgeAthletic, its second deal in a week

What's the deal? VALD has acquired US-based BridgeAthleticDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a strength and conditioning software platform, in a move announced in August 2026. The purchase comes one week after VALD bought velocity-tracking firm GymAwareDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Terms of both deals were not disclosed.

What does each company do? VALD builds objective testing systems used by elite sports and clinical organisations to measure strength, movement, balance and rehabilitation. Founded in 2012, BridgeAthletic offers software that lets coaches design, deliver and analyse training programmes, supporting thousands of teams and hundreds of thousands of athletes.

Why now? The back-to-back acquisitions let VALD connect three previously separate layers of the performance workflow: measurement through VALD, real-time monitoring through GymAware, and programme design through BridgeAthletic.

What's the endgame? VALD wants to build a single connected system spanning testing, prescription, execution and analysis. It says the combined platform draws on more than five million workouts completed through BridgeAthletic and what it calls the industry's largest performance dataset.

What they're saying: "For too long, coaches and practitioners have had to stitch together multiple tools and datasets," said Laurie Malone, chief executive officer and co-founder of VALD. "This changes that."

The signal: The deals point to consolidation in performance technology, where fragmented tools are being folded into unified platforms. By linking measurement to programme delivery, VALD is betting coaches will pay for an end-to-end system rather than piecing one together themselves.

Read more: VALD

Image credit: Semtrio