A few weeks back our portfolio company, Runkeeper, quietly launched a store. Like most other starups, the store had Runkeeper branded appareal like performance Ts and hoodies. Unlike most startup stores, Runkeeper’s store gave a subtle hint to their future.

Today that hint becomes not so subtle.

With the addition of FitBit and Zeo devices to the Runkeeper store, the company is signaling their longer term strategy to be the connecting tissue between personal sensors and the health and fitness data they’re collecting, All of the current devices in the store and all future devices will be integrated via the Runkeeper Body API. From the company:

Integration with these devices is just the beginning!  We are also hard at work making the RunKeeper API public.  This will mean many more devices, apps, and websites will be able to integrate with the RunKeeper platform as we grow, and our users will be able to get a holistic view of their health across the different health/fitness data that they care about in one place.

Since our first meeting, the team at Runkeeper has made it very clear that their ambitions outstripped a single running app. But, the app and it’s 5 million (and growing) user base provided a wedge that opened to the broader trends emerging in the health and fitness markets. With the store and the Body API the goal is to let thousands more apps and sensors bloom.

If you know the Runkeeper team like I know the Runkeeper team it should be clear that they won’t stop, nay, can’t stop until they deliver on this promise to connect the world’s health information and the devies collecting it in meaningful and contextual ways. Today’s announcement brings them, and their community, one step closer.

PS- I borrowed the term Body API from Loic Le Meur who wrote a great post on the topic here.

PPS- Loic is an advisor to the team at Runkeeper.