Hey everyone - this morning, Zwift is announcing news to the financial world about our next round of capital investment. We’re very excited to secure this funding so we can continue improving our core products, and develop new ones.
We’ve been through an extraordinary year together as COVID-19 forced everyone indoors, fueled a worldwide cycling boom, and introduced many people to new ways of exercising at home.
It’s easy to forget Zwift is still a young business. Fundraising is an essential part of our growth and allows us to make the investments we need to develop - new people, more servers, more capabilities.
This Series C funding will allow Zwift to accelerate the development of new product features, more roads, more content and new experiences, for a more immersive and easier to use experience.
Hopefully good news for the user base as well as Zwift.
May I ask why the post was so heavily edited from what it said originally? It was previously much longer and contained some interesting and important points for Zwifters. There was a note about pricing, for example. Was it inaccurate?
Wow, I see what you mean! Thanks for pointing it out. It was certainly a lot longer before.
No mention of Zwift hardware (an open secret) any more, and no more mention of the price not going up any time soon. I can’t remember what else was in there originally.
The original was posted around 9am UK time and was full of useful information and positive messages.
Zwift HQ came to work later in the day, saw the post and clearly freaked out by by the information in the post and probably told @Shuji_Sakai to update it by removing the actual information on pricing and product development.
Yeah I realize this doesn’t give all the same info that was removed from the original post this morning, but the press release does have some interesting comments from the investors and does include the focus on the core program and hardware development.
So now venture capitalists will set priorities for Zwift instead of customer feedback. We’ll likely see a half baked Zwift Bike before UI enhancements with such revolutionary features like saving a ride without quitting the application.
Zwift has sold its soul in pursuit on an IPO. Might as well disable these forums- our voices don’t matter.
One of the best things about Zwift was that it was hardware agnostic. As the company goes down the path of developing its own hardware it will alienate companies such as Wahoo that actually have hardware expertise as part of their DNA.
Investors will pressure Zwift to be like Peleton and create a closed ecosystem because they perceive that as creating a better return on their investment. Imagine if you could watch Netflix only if you bought the Netflix TV. That is the future for Zwift.
Gang - I trimmed down the initial draft early this morning (US west coast time) because I may have assumed the questions you might have. So rather than make assumptions and post unfounded conjecture, let’s have the conversation around what this injection of funding means to this community.
Disclosure - I’m not a finance guy so I can’t address questions in this realm. The mucky-mucks probably can’t discuss any details beyond the coverage we’ve seen in the media today.
That is my prediction. Venture capitalists love closed ecosystems because they create perceived loyalty based on ‘barriers to exit’. That’s why you can’t use a Peloton Bike or Tread with anything but the Peloton service.
Over time there will be mounting pressure on Zwift to deliver software features only to users of Zwift branded hardware like a Zwift Bike. That will further decrease competition in the space and degrade the experience.
And you can bet the Zwift Bike will have integrated steering. An attempt to create differentiation through niche features and half baked ideas rather then a quality user experience.
Is the subscription price going to be affected by this?
Is the money going to be spent purely on pushing the hardware division forward? Some of the press has taken this angle but this doesn’t really benefit most of the long time users.
What plans (if any) are in place to develop and/or overhaul the game engine so that legacy ‘technical limitations’ are no longer an obstruction?
Is ZwiftPower and community racing generally (not the high profile pro events) going to see any additional investment?
What is the significance behind Ilkka Paananen joining the board? Does this mean the focus is moving to mobile platforms, and will this be at the expense of PC/Mac development?
Does the investment mean we can expect any movement on any of the major historical feature requests, some of which are fundamental improvements that have been outstanding for years?
When might we see any benefits of this investment, as end users?
Will Zwift finally publish some sort of roadmap, now that they’re clearly holding such a strong position in the market?
Can you confirm there are no plans to increase the subscription price?
Can you confirm you will still work closely with the major hardware providers and not limit features to Zwift produced hardware?
Can you confirm there will be a focus on repairing the core product and once repaired enhance it with a strong, well communicated roadmap, starting with the major features that have been requested by the community?
Can you confirm there will be a focus on legitimising zwift community racing, progressing with the zwift power amalgamation?
You know the responses from Zwift will just be public relations fluff. Here’s my predictions:
We’ll see a Zwift Bike created in partnership with Specialized before we see any of the features and fixes most commonly requested from customers.
Ilkka Paananen will bring micro-payments to Zwift to help satisfy investor appetites for multiple recurring revenue streams.
Zwift will cater to the whims of Wall Street as they prepare for an IPO and look to increase subscription fees - but will pretend they are providing customer choice with tiered pricing.
