Users are able to access Mobike’s cycle-rental feature within the Wallet function of popular messaging app Wechat, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting. The Mobike bike-rental feature now appears on the WeChat Wallet interface. This marks a further tie-up after the pair made an announcement last month that users can unlock a bike by […]
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[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 […]
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[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 […]
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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 […]
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[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 […]
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Ofo vs Mobike: Northern vs Southern China expansion models
Next time when you meet a Chinese person, ask where they are from. The geographical boundary between northern China and southern China is not precisely defined, but there are rough and approximate stereotypes on Northerners and Southerners’ height, language, and what they eat. At the annual ChinaBang Awards this year, Grace Gu, principal at ZhenFund (backer of ofo), […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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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China releases first national guidelines for bike rental industry
After several tragic deaths and countless headaches for municipal authorities caused by the bike rental boom, the first guidelines for regulating bike rental for the whole of China have officially been published (in Chinese). The “guiding opinions on encouraging and regulating the development of bicycle rental” were signed by 20 state departments after the draft was […]
