“Current sports trackers focus on statistics, health and performance-based metrics, which we think is great, but only captures one side of the experience,” says the Relive co-founder. What was needed was a way to not only automatically visualise that data, but do it in a way that puts emotion back into “reliving” a cycling trip and, in the future, any outdoor activity, such as a hike or road trip. The opportunity was that, as fun as it is to capture activity data, raw numbers alone don’t go very far in telling the true story. “When we shared a first version about a year ago, it quickly spread and thousands and thousands of cyclists around the world started using it”. So we started building our idea on that same holiday,” Relive co-founder Yousef El-Dardiry tells me. “We realised there was an opportunity we absolutely needed to catch. But, perhaps more noteworthy, the startup has seen almost half a million users sign up, who are apparently creating 100,000 videos per day. The app has already been used by professional cyclists to document their progress in the Tour de France, and I gather Instagram founder Kevin Systrom has taken Relive for a ride. Inspired by its founders’ experience during a cycling trip whilst on holiday in Tenerife early last year, the company turns activity data, such as that garnered from devices made by Strava or Garmin, and combines this with photos you’ve taken to create 3D animated videos. Relive, a Dutch startup that has been flying a little under the tech media radar until now, might just be onto something.

Relive bike app