Didi denies getting in between Alibaba and ofo in latest financing round

Yesterday Chinese media 36kr is reporting that Didi vetoed Alibaba’s funding to Chinese bike rental startup ofo. However, Didi’s spokesperson told TechNode that this is not true.

“We didn’t veto any such plan. We are partners with Alibaba in ofo,” Didi spokesperson told TechNode.

In July, ofo announced its Series E of financing worth $700 million led by Alibaba and other investors including Didi. According to 36kr, at the end of last year, ofo reportedly has reached an investment agreement with Alibaba to accept the $1 billion in financing. However, neither ofo nor Alibaba announced the details of the financing.

Speculations arose last week, with rumors that ofo investor Zhu Xiaohu (also known as Allen Zhu) from GSR Ventures has sold his shares in ofo to Alibaba for $3 billion.

On January 14, Jia Jinghua, an influencer on Baidu Baijiahao, said that during the new round of financing, many ofo shareholders had already agreed and signed the investment agreement. Only one shareholder was so unwilling to sign it. 36Kr has confirmed with many parties and the shareholders who are reluctant to sign was Didi, who launched its own bike rental platform this week.

An ofo insider said that part of Alibaba’s financing is being used to buy some of Didi’s shares in ofo.

Didi launched its own bike rental service in cooperation with Bluegogo, combining with its own manufactured rental bikes while owning about 30% of ofo.