Today sees the announcement that Zwift, the largest* specialised indoor cycling platform, has bought out the second largest platform, ROUVY. With that deal, they now also own FulGaz. The first I heard of this acquisition was a WhatsApp message from a friend, linking me to the DC Rainmaker article announcing the deal, so there’s that…

* Technically PELOTON is the largest, but it’s lives in a slightly different ecosystem.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I work for FulGaz. Around a year ago FulGaz was sold to ROUVY by IRONMAN. Their initial plan was to shut down FulGaz, but community sentiment changed their mind. After buying FulGaz, ROUVY also bought another indoor app (BKOOL Virtual Cycling) and promptly shut them down, absorbing all of those customers into ROUVY.

I’ve been with FulGaz since it was a small privately owned Australian company. Those were epic days. Owned by passionate riders, run by passionate riders, for even more passionate riders. FulGaz was eventually acquired by IRONMAN, then a couple of years later IRONMAN sold FulGaz to ROUVY, and now ROUVY have been bought by Zwift. The cycle continues.

FulGaz: Great times with great people.

Zwift, the biggest player in the virtual indoor cycling scene, now owns three indoor cycling apps. While the word on the street is that there will be no major cuts or changes to any of the three apps, the world of indoor cycling choices and ownership is definitely getting smaller, and I’m not sure that’s always a good thing…