As the bike-rental craze cools down, so do Chinese firms’ ambitious globalization plans.
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Posted inNews
Meituan-Dianping rumored to acquire Mobike for $3.7 billion
Editor’s note: Rumors are rife in China, especially so in a hotly contested area like transportation and O2O services. This news is unconfirmed and the veracity of Mobike’s financial and operational situation as outlined is unclear. Update 10:02 04 Apr 2018: The purchase has been confirmed by multiple sources. Follow our coverage here. Rumors of […]
Posted inNews
What do you think of Mobike and Ofo expanding to your country? We asked
Chinese bike rental companies Mobike and ofo expanded to more than 30 countries last year. While attending the SeedStars Summit 2018 in Lausane, Switzerland, we asked people from 5 different countries what they think about Chinese bike rental startups’ expansion into their home countries. Recent data from Cheetah shows that China’s active users of bike […]
Posted inWith Chinese Characteristics
Chinese city wants to regulate bike rental platforms with social credit system
Foshan will require Mobike, ofo, and other bike rental companies to hand over users blacklisted for bad parking.
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
Global bike rental is about to get even bigger: Cheetah Global report
Cheetah Global has come out with freshly-minted statistics on the state of the bike rental economy in the world. Public bicycles were first started in Europe but have seen their biggest success in the East starting from China’s dockless bike systems ofo and Mobike. According to the global distribution of active users gathered by Cheetah […]
Posted inNews
ofo announces $866 million funding round led by Alibaba amid cash strain rumors
ofo raises $866 million in latest funding round led by Alibaba
Posted inOn the Cusp
Ofo starts selling ads on bikes and in apps
Chinese bike rental giant ofo has started selling advertisements on its bikes and apps (in Chinese) in an attempt to boost revenues amid increasing cash strain. The company will launch custom-designed bikes and the bike-body ads will appear in bike wheels, saddle and baskets for clients to reach the public with their messages. Rumors of ofo’s failure […]
Posted inNews
Updated: Alibaba rumored to deepen involvement in bike-rentals with upcoming $1 bln Hellobike investment round
Updated 23 Jan 2017: TechNode Chinese has reached out to Hellobike, Fosun Capital and Hellobike’s early-stage investor GGV, but neither has confirmed the news. Chinese bike rental firm Hellobike (哈罗单车) is going to complete $1 billion worth of round from Ant Financial (an affiliate company of Alibaba Group), Fosun Capital, and some other existing investors, people familiar […]
Posted inWith Chinese Characteristics
China Tech Talk 68: The year that tech became political — 2018 in review, part 1
Matt and John take a look at the stories and trends of 2018.
