Bkool goes all-in on the cycling software market
News here from Spanish-based Bkool (www.bkool.com) company – which to my eyes, makes a lot of sense.
As we’ve noted several times in recent years, indoor training is almost certainly the fastest growing sector of the triathlon and cycling market. This has been driven to a large extent by the development of smart trainers plus the wide range of training apps (Zwift / TrainerRoad / Sufferfest and many others).
Unlike the majority of the market, Bkool has had a foot in both camps, manufacturing smart trainers (we reviewed one HERE), plus it’s own simulator software. Potentially a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ scenario, it always felt like they were trying to spin too many plates… and now they have made a significant business change. Software is now the Bkool business.
Here is the full announcement.
Bkool sells its hardware rights to Versa Design
With this agreement, the technology company seeks to focus 100% on the development of its cycling simulator
Versa Design, with extensive experience in industrial and electronic development, will market the trainers and exercise bikes under the Zycle brand.
This decision means that Bkool will have the ability to focus on what has been and still is the most important part of their business, their cycling simulator. With almost 100,000 active users last year and with more than 250,000 users in total, the Bkool simulator is a platform with cyclists from all over the world, who upload content and participate in a wide range of virtual events.
Every year more users experience the Bkool simulator with trainers from other brands, mainly Tacx, Wahoo, Elite and Saris. By putting all of its resources into software development, Bkool seeks faster growth on its platform by offering its users the best cycling simulation no matter which trainer they own. Of course, in the future, it will continue to work on its compatibility with Zycle rollers.
The development of this product is known by Versa Design, which for years has been Bkool’s supplier in the industrial and electronic development of both trainers and smart bikes. The objective of Versa Design is to use all of their experience in product development to become a manufacturer and market under the Zycle brand (www.zycle.eu).
“For Bkool, this agreement is essential for us, as it allows us to focus on the development of the best cycling simulator in the market,” says Wences Sevillano, Bkool’s CEO. “Each day we have more users who use other brands’ trainers in our simulator. Our future as a company is to offer the best simulation experience, no matter what trainer you may have. And this agreement allows us to put all our effort into it, developing the best digital product for every cyclist.”
Juan Ramón Vadillo, the founder of Versa Design on the agreement with Bkool: “We are excited about this new stage for our company. Through Zycle, we will not only provide continuity to the range of existing products, but we will strengthen it with new technological products, maintaining compatibility with Bkool and strengthening support with other simulators. We will apply our industrial capacity to achieve the technical excellence of the product and thus satisfy today’s increasingly demanding customer ”.