Zwift, maker of a popular indoor training app, just landed a whopping $450 million in funding led by KKR – TechCrunch

Summary (IA Generated)

person“>Zwift, a 350-person, Long Beach, Calif.

Permira and Specialized Bicycle’s venture capital fund, Zone 5 Ventures, also joined the round alongside earlier backers True, Highland Europe, Novator and Causeway Media.

Right now, the company just makes an app, albeit a popular one.

5 million people have signed up to enter a world that, as Outside magazine once described it, is “part social-media platform, part personal trainer, part computer game.

Though a spokesman for the company said it can’t discuss any particulars — “It takes time to develop hardware properly, and COVID has placed increased pressure on production” — it is hoping to bring its first product to market “as soon as possible.

He added that the hardware will make Zwift a “more immersive and seamless experience for users.

Either way, the direction isn’t a surprising one for the company, and we don’t say that merely because Specialized participated in this round as a strategic backer.

Given the runaway success of the in-home fitness company Peloton, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a treadmill follow, or even a different product entirely.

Said the Zwift spokesman, “In the future, it’s possible that we could bring in other disciplines or a more gamified experience.