Didi hopes new strategies will help it complete a U-turn that will get it out of the dead-end in which it finds itself.
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Posted inOn the Cusp
As bike rentals cool, ofo chooses to stand alone
China’s bike rental industry has experienced a roller coaster over the past 3 years. At its height, there were nearly 80 bike rental startups in the market, brightening the streets with a rainbow of bikes. But in the fast-paced tech world, trends come and go quickly. Within a year, over 20 bike startups failed, including […]
Posted inNews
Mobike vs ofo: The race for the world’s bike rental market
It is almost two years since Mobike co-founder Hu Weiwei put around 50 bicycles on the streets of Shanghai and drove away. Ofo had a similar beginning, spreading out shared bikes on Beijing’s university campuses. This is how China’s dockless bike rental economy was born—from moves that could easily be branded as crazy. Today, bikes […]
Posted inNews
4 take aways from 34 new Chinese unicorns in 2017: IT Juzi report
A “unicorn” refers to those companies less than 10 years old and valued at $1 billion or more. There were 34 Chinese new unicorn companies in 2017 that match these conditions, according to a new report released by Chinese startup database IT Juzi (IT桔子). In the first half of 2017, rental economy startups gained prominence […]
Posted inViews
[Op-Ed] Taking a ride with Mobike outside of China
Editor’s note: This op-ed was contributed by Tay Choon Chong, Managing partner of Vertex Ventures. Vertex Ventures China invests in high-growth internet and technology start-ups across mainland China and provides funding support and value-add services to portfolio companies in their growth stage. With Mobike launching in Singapore, it’s first market outside of China, we thought […]
Posted inNews
[Podcast] China Tech Talk 04: Exclusive interview with Florian Bohnert, Mobike’s Head of International Expansion
This week we switch up the format a bit to do our very first interview! Continuing our discussion of bike sharing, we invited Florian Bohnert, Head of International Expansion at Mobike, to talk about Mobike, bike sharing, and their plans inside and outside China. Questions How did you come to China/start working at Mobike? How […]
Posted inNews
“Anything can happen”: Ofo and Mobike investors talk about bike-rental war
On March 17, investors in both Ofo and Mobike took the stage at ChinaBang Awards 2017 to discuss the future of the bike-rental industry. Grace Gu, principal at Ofo-investor ZhenFund, and Xu Ying, Executive Partner of Mobike-investor Vertex Ventures talked about where they see the bike war heading. “We cannot say if there will be a merger between these […]
Posted inNews
Shanghai Bike-Sharing Battle: Ofo vs Mobike vs Xiaoming
Ready or not, China, once known as the bicycle kingdom, is in the midst of a cycling revival. While the car has rapidly displaced bikes, we now see more than a dozen startups flooding into the dockless bike-sharing arena. Investors have taken their sides in the stiffening battle, but a more pressing question is which […]
Posted inNews
Top 15 apps you need for living in China
Say goodbye to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and welcome your new favorite apps. Here is everything you will need to navigate your China life. 1. Communication: WeChat (微信) The app to rule them all, WeChat is the very definition of indispensable in China. This is where you will connect with your friends, communicate with your […]
Posted inNews
[Updated] O2O bike-rental deposits in China may not be as secure as users think
You must have noticed the boom bike-rental companies in China as an increasing array of rainbow colored bikes mushrooming on streets across the country. Endless financing rounds from big names like Tencent, Didi, and Foxconn have been injected into one or another of the startups that involved in a heating field. Despite the initial “wows” […]
