Zwift Acquires Rouvy

General Discussion
1

ZWIFT ACCELERATES MISSION TO MAKE MORE PEOPLE, MORE ACTIVE, MORE OFTEN WITH THE ACQUISITION OF ROUVY

Zwift Ride x ROUVY
Zwift Ride x ROUVY1920×1080 290 KB

Together, the two companies aim to further the growth of cycling through differentiated experiences

Zwift, the global online fitness platform, has today announced it has completed the strategic acquisition of ROUVY, the real routes cycling app that helps riders achieve their cycling goals. The acquisition aims to accelerate growth in the indoor cycling category through strategic cooperation between the two companies, while maintaining their independent operations.

“This is a major moment for both Zwift and ROUVY”, says Eric Min, Zwift Co-Founder and CEO. “We have a huge amount of respect for what ROUVY has achieved, developing a fantastic product and growing their global community by demonstrating there is a strong market for real video experiences. ROUVY’s differentiated experience is proof we can be stronger together, and I’m excited to see how this deal will accelerate our mission to make more people, more active, more often.”

“This is an exciting time for our industry and for cyclists worldwide. Over the past year, we have seen the indoor cycling market grow at the fastest rate since COVID”, continues Eric. “We’re seeing our audience widen, and we are now seeing more people come to cycling for the first time through indoor training, seeking an activity that supports their active lifestyle and focus on long-term health. This growth has been driven by the increased affordability and simplicity of ‘Zwift Ready’ smart trainers, which offer compatibility with virtually any bike.”

Zwift is pleased to confirm that from today, Zwift Ready smart trainers and Zwift Ride smart frames will work with ROUVY, unlocking new experiences within the ROUVY software application and making it easier for new users to get started. Further updates are planned over the coming months.

Both Zwift and ROUVY will continue to operate independently, with differentiated roadmaps and subscription packages.

“I am really proud of ROUVY and our community!” says Petr Samek, CEO and Founder of ROUVY. “This is a strong validation of what we’ve built with our team and community, connecting indoor and outdoor training through real routes. ROUVY will continue to be the ROUVY you all know and love, with the same team and the same focus on helping riders achieve their cycling goals. For our community, this means we’ll keep building the experience you know, supporting your training all year round. Now, supported by Zwift and the Zwift hardware ecosystem, we have an opportunity to create even more experiences in the world of indoor cycling reality!”

Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

2

Maybe I was blind, but I didn’t see that coming!

3

:open_mouth:

Blimey! I’ve tried Rouvy several times and like some aspects of it. I guess this means Rouvy’s reverse engineered support for Play controllers is sanctioned now. :smiley:

I can give it another go without feeling guilty or like I’m cheating on my first love now. \o/

4

ahh price increase incomming …

5

No, Zwift has no plans to increase pricing.

6

Yes, Zwift Ride and Zwift Click v2 are now compatible with the ROUVY platform. Currently, Zwift Play controllers are not supported.

7

Why? That seems to be the part that is missing.

8

That is what companies usually say at the beginning. But most of the times the customers are the ones who will not benefit a lot moneywise with mergers like this. Not really bad, that is just how it works. Things have to be payed by someone.

But I really hope you proof me wrong and that in 5 years from now we are still at the same price.

9

that seems unlikely regardless of mergers and acquisitions, prices always go up

10

But that is also due to mergers and/or acquisitions.

Those arent good for employees and customers most of the times and only benefits the people at the top.

11

market monopolisation

12

Show me ANYTHING what has the same price today as 5 years ago :thinking:

13

Definitely didn’t see that coming…having said that, some months ago Eric Min posted a Rouvy ride on strava and very quickly deleted it so I did think it was very suss that the CEO would be riding on a rival platform.

I’d definitely be interested in a joint subscription package if one ever came about

14

Zwift from 2017 to 2025 :wink:

But on a more serious note. Things like this usually arent good for anyone but the top or investors.No idea if they are bought out or just merge but there will for sure be a bonus in it for a few.

But than comes the bad news. With two basicly the same platforms they will at one point have spare employees who do the same work on Rouvy or Zwift. Divisions will also merge and/or people will get laid off. Same with management or like here Forum control.

And at one point the investors will want some roi so the prices go up. It happens with every merge or buy out. It is never good for everyone and at some point someone has to pay for it.

15

World of Warcraft.

It’s £9.99 per month currently, and has been since 2014 (when it was increased from £8.99, which it had been since 2005).

16

Not for me in Austria, there was a price increase (I started 2018, can not exactly say when the increase was. I believe it was some tax?).

17

Yes, but it is an exception.

18

Maybe, but you said “Show me ANYTHING”.:stuck_out_tongue:

19

Just want to offer a couple other possibilities:

  1. Rouvy might have really needed this. I don’t know their financials but if they loaded up with debt by acquiring FulGaz and Bkool as a small company, and then growth didn’t meet expectations, that can be a really serious problem so it might help keep their alternative view of indoor cycling in existence.
  2. They might get more new users as part of Zwift. If that happens then it would make their platform better since lack of users seemed like one of the biggest problems for the Rouvy experience. I bet there are some people who only learned about Rouvy today because of this announcement. Better support for Zwift’s hardware would also make it easier for people to try Rouvy.
20

Given the state of the “up next” feature I was more hoping they would be acquiring a company they could use to integrate within Zwift to fix their workout recommendations. (i.e. make Zwift a better training platform).

This acquisition doesn’t really help Zwifters (especially if they are not going to offer a cheap multi-subscription package, or use the Rouvy videos in the climb portals or something like that to make Zwift more interesting). So to me this is more of a bizdev thing to try and consolidate users and recurring revenue stream. I don’t know how many users Rouvy had, but this might not be enough to really convert into much better overall features in either platform.

So, what I’d like is for Zwift to get better, I am not sure this helps or not. If they do plan on running the businesses completely separately, and do not plan any subscription or experience integration then it does not.