ATLANTA (BRAIN) — While several former employees of Wahoo Fitness have told BRAIN in recent days that they had been laid off, the company on Tuesday announced it had purchased RGT Cycling, a virtual cycling platform.
The former employees tell BRAIN that Wahoo has let go around 50 employees, across several departments and at its facilities in Georgia; Boulder, Colorado; Reno, Nevada; and Tasmania. One former employee said he'd been told Wahoo trimmed its workforce by 20%. A Wahoo spokesperson told BRAIN the impact of the changes is "very minimal."
"Last week strategic changes were made to support the growth and development of Wahoo," the spokesperson said. "We didn’t take these decisions lightly, but we made them to ensure Wahoo can maintain focus on new innovative products and services. The needs of athletes are evolving and our areas of emphasis need to do the same. We greatly value the contributions of our talented colleagues and are committed to supporting impacted team members in their transitions."
Three different former employees told BRAIN that the layoffs were announced last week. They said the company indicated that sales have recently flattened following significant sales increases during the pandemic. One said that the Wahoo SYSTM training platform has faced tough competition from Zwift, TrainerRoad and other platforms, and that many former users of the Sufferfest system, which Wahoo acquired in 2019, did not switch to SYSTM.
Wahoo will brand RGT Cycling as Wahoo RGT.
"Wahoo RGT represents the next generation of virtual cycling, allowing cyclists to ride, race and explore on highly-detailed virtual roads, either alone or with others. Powered by an advanced physics engine, Wahoo RGT provides realistic drafting, cornering and braking, making it less like a video game and more like an immersive cycling simulator," the company said.
Wahoo also announced the launch of Wahoo X, a new subscription service that gives athletes full access to all of the features and content for both Wahoo SYSTM and Wahoo RGT under a single account.
"The acquisition of RGT Cycling and the launch of the new Wahoo X subscription service gives athletes more options, more convenience, and more control over how they train," said Mike Saturnia, the CEO of Wahoo. "With a single subscription and one account that works across the entire suite of Wahoo products, we're able to deliver unprecedented value and a best-in-class experience that seamlessly integrates the Wahoo ecosystem of hardware and software solutions, allowing athletes to get the most out of their training, whether indoors or outdoors. And while the benefits are best realized through the Wahoo ecosystem, we're committed to ensuring that our expanded offering of comprehensive training and virtual cycling software remains open and compatible with key industry players and standards. Athlete choice and freedom will continue to be at the heart of everything we do at Wahoo."
Wahoo was growing rapidly even before the pandemic — in 2019 it claimed it had grown 242% over three years. It received "a significant investment" last year from the private equity firm Rhône. Besides its Sufferfest acquisition, Wahoo bought Speedplay in 2019. In 2021, Wahoo Fitness invested $13.5 million in Supersapiens, a Georgia company developing a real-time blood glucose monitoring system.
