Months after dropping a hint for taking its services to overseas market, China’s top bike-rental startup Mobike announced today the launch of its hugely popular bike-sharing service in Singapore, the first stop of Mobike’s global expansion. Mobike’s operation in Singapore features its typical scan-and-go service. Singapore residents can now ride a Mobike by downloading the […]
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Mobike teams up with China’s largest thin-film solar cell manufacturer
Bike-rental startup Mobike and China’s largest thin-film solar cell manufacturer Hanergy Holding Group (汉能) announced yesterday a strategic partnership that will see the latter’s thin-film solar panels integrated into the body of a Mobike bicycle so as to meet the electricity demand of its smart locks. The tie-up will give the bike-rental service a bigger […]
Mobike co-founder sues Q&A site Zhihu for defamation
Mobike co-founder Hu Weiwei is suing the operators of Q&A website Zhihu (知乎) for defamation after a user on the site claimed Mobike staff were involved in corruption. This comes just days after a corruption scandal at main rival ofo and forms part of a growing trend of tech company litigation in China. On May 9, […]
[Podcast] China Tech Talk 03: Bike sharing business models – Mobike and ofo
John and Matthew go deeper on bike sharing and respond to some listener feedback. Questions they answer: How many bikes are on the streets? How many users do Mobike and ofo have? How much are these two companies worth? How do they generate revenue? What are some potential monetization strategies? How do Mobike and ofo […]
ofo pedals their way into four European countries on World Car Free Day
The globalization competition between ofo and Mobike, two of China’s top bike rental giants, is reaching a feverish pitch. Instead of revealing the entrance to overseas markets one by one, ofo announced today that it will be launching in a cluster of four European countries of Russia, Czech Republic, Italy and Netherlands on the September […]
Beijing joins list of cities saying no to new shared bikes
China’s dockless bike rental market is fairly young given that major players in the market like Mobike and ofo weren’t born until very recently. The sector has witnessed breakneck development over the past two years in China, but now the fast-evolving industry is reaching saturation at a speed faster than we expected, at least in […]
[Infographic] The differences between Mobike and Ofo
As the ride-hailing wars have disappeared, the latest war is bike-sharing (more like bike-rental), with Mobike and Ofo leading the pack. In case you weren’t sure how exactly they are different, WakeMeChat has made this handy infographic: Mobike’s technology seems to be a bit better, but how either company is actually making money is still a […]
Mobike announces “Magic Cube,” an AI made from its mountains of user data
Bike-rental startup Mobike announced yesterday the launch of its artificial intelligence (AI) data monitoring platform dubbed “Magic Cube”, in its renewed efforts to fight against its rivals, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting. This is the first time that AI has found its application in the bike-rental sector. “Magic Cube” is able to make […]
Tencent ups the bike-rental ante with largest funding round so far
Mobike today announced that it has raised over US$600 million in Series E, the largest ever financing round in the bike-rental industry. This landmark round, putting the company at a valuation of between US$2 billion and US$3 billion (in Chinese), was led by existing investor Tencent and joined by Sequoia China, TPG, and Hillhouse Capital, among […]
US firm says ofo leading bike rental race in China
The public spat between Tencent’s CEO Pony Ma and GSR Ventures managing director Zhu Xiaohu over who is the most popular bike rental platform has added fuel to China’s already heated bike rental industry. The discussions between investment moguls make it difficult for onlookers to dig up into the correct figures in the burgeoning market. Even […]