PRAGUE (BRAIN) — The Pale Fire Capital investment group has invested $6 million in VirtualTraining, a Czech company behind the ROUVY indoor cycling and running software application.
VirtualTraining said Pale Fire will become the majority shareholder and that the company is now valued "in the tens of millions of U.S. dollars." It said the investment, expected to close by the end of September, will fuel an ambition to surpass 2 million active users in the next five years and to become the #1 global mobile app for virtual cycling and running.
"Since the beginning, our motivation has been driven by the prospect of providing athletes with a realistic cycling adventure at home. We've come a long way, and we now facilitate this experience through a proprietary technology called Augmented Routes. We are confident that our product offers a convincing experience and great entertainment, and we want to make the benefits available to a greater number of both advanced and occasional cyclists, triathletes and runners around the world. To do that, we've joined forces with PFC. We believe that, together with the investment group's experienced professionals, we will build a strong global business that will bring together the indoor and outdoor worlds and make sports attractive to more people of various ages and backgrounds," said VirtualTraining CEO Petr Samek.
Dušan Šenkypl, founding partner of Pale Fire Capital, said, "I discovered ROUVY as a user during the COVID-19 lockdown. I found out that it was a Czech venture only after virtually cycling hundreds of kilometers through the Alps and the Italian landscape. Petr Samek and his associates are doing a great job that puts their product on par with the best solutions available in the global market. The ambition to be second to none in the worldwide context and to create a highly entertaining and rewarding product has brought us together and has ultimately resulted in our close partnership. Our other partners at PFC are sports fans too, which is why we're very happy to provide support for the further development of ROUVY."
Rouvy works with smart trainers and smart bikes to offer animated video routes and experiences that include drafting and a combination of animated 3D riders and objects with 2D and 360° videos. The app's highest number of users are in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.
ROUVY users cycled over 58 million kilometers last year, and nearly 49 million kilometers in the first half of 2021. The target for the full 2021 is 150 million kilometers ridden.
ROUVY has partnered with IRONMAN and Tour de Suisse and said it is negotiating with the Vuelta a Espana.
Pale Fire Capital is an investment fund established by Jan Barta, Dušan Šenkypl, David Holý, and Petr Krajíček in Prague in 2015. The fund's portfolio includes Favi, a furniture and home decor search engine, the Aukro auction portal and the Semantic Visions data analytics firm. More information on ROUVY at rouvy.com.
