Bike rental platform ofo announced the completion of more than $700 million series E financing on July 6th. The current round of financing was jointly led by Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba, Hony Capital and CITICPE, followed by existing investors Didi Chuxing and DST, with China eCapital as the financial adviser of the current financing.
Alibaba investment in ofo is quite worthy of attention. Prior to the new funding round, ofo had already struck a strategic cooperation deal on April 22nd with Sesame Credit, the social credit scoring system developed by Ant Financial, allowing Shanghai ofo users with a Sesame Credit score of 650 or higher to register on the app without making the RMB 99 deposit. This is considered an important sign of Alibaba’s entry into ofo.
Ofo’s founder and CEO Dai Wei said: “Ofo is committed to providing users with convenient, efficient, green and healthy travel services to the world. In the future, we will further promote the user experience upgrade, accelerate the strategic layout at home and abroad.”
Alibaba as the leading investor in the current round was very optimistic about the future development prospects of ofo. Alibaba Group Executive Vice Chairman Cai Chongxin said: “Ofo redefines the short-distance travel so that more people can join the low-carbon life, and deliver a real positive value to the community. We are delighted to be working with ofo to unlock the industry’s greater potential.”