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 […]
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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 […]
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“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 […]
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Has China’s sharing economy finally jumped the shark?
Bikes, bikes, and more bikes. China’s streets have been invaded by bike rentals of every hue. More and more Chinese entrepreneurs are sparing no effort to jump on the sharing bandwagon. Now, when you walk around the streets or hang around shopping malls, there’s a high chance that you’ll come across a slew of shared […]
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[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” […]
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10 bikes in 16 minutes: Bike-rental race revives flagging industry
Editor’s note: This was originally a two part report by Li Siyi and Jiang Xiaochuan for Tencent Finance. It has been translated and further edited for clarity and style by Linda Lew. In winning the bike-rental “arms race,” the number of bikes on the street has become the critical factor. China’s largest bicycle manufacturing hub has […]
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How ofo is bringing China’s latest export to the rest of the world
Ofo, China’s latest bike-rental unicorn that Apple CEO Tim Cook paid his tribute to during China visit, is looking beyond the borders of the middle kingdom. “The act of bike-sharing could someday become a lingua franca, connecting people around the world,” said Dai Wei last week at Boao Forum for Asia. The company’s bold global […]
