This week John and Matt follow up with Florian Bohnert, Head of Global Partnerships about what Mobike has been up to since we last talked, including: How Mobike has expanded into global markets The challenges of globalizing from China Finding talent and educating users Differences in recreational vs commute use in different countries Whether Mobike […]
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Didi continues pivot into two wheeled mobility with beta test of electric bike rental
Chinese ride-hailing behemoth Didi is beta-testing its electric bike rental service in South China, a person with knowledge of the matter told TechNode. Didi is said to have won the initial support of at least three cities. The firm is expected to develop its own bike rental brand, or potentially a separate app, with an access […]
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Ofo launches in US capital, hopes to conquer US market within a year
Ofo, China’s leading bike rental company, announced October 10 its launch in Washington, D.C., following Seattle and Massachusetts. The fast-expanding firm will deploy 400 of its yellow bikes over the course of its first week, as the local government only allows 400 bikes on the streets during the “demonstration stage.” The local regulator appears to be extra […]
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Shenzhen bans more than 13,000 people from using bike-rental companies
A total of 13,615 people in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen will be temporarily banned from using shared bikes due to traffic violations, according to media reports (in Chinese). This is the first batch of traffic offenders that will be punished according to the new rules on shared bicycle users’ behavior issued by the Shenzhen […]
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Ofo becomes first bike-rental unicorn after US$ 450 million series D
Chinese bike-sharing firm Ofo announced today that it has secured US$ 450 million (around RMB 3.1 billion) in its Series D financing, a move that is heating up the already cut-throat competition in this nascent market, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting. The round is led by Moscow-headquartered DST, and other investors in this […]
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Ofo signs partnership with Huawei and China Telecom, finally becoming a technology company
Yesterday, Ofo has announced a partnership deal (in Chinese) with China Telecom (中国电信) and Huawei. The partnership will see China Telecom providing wireless data access, Huawei providing NB-IoT chips (PDF), and Ofo providing the bikes. The announcement emphasized a big pain point for the company: their technology. At this point, it’s fairly clear that Mobike and Ofo […]
