Bluegogo is going bust. Staff from the bicycle rental company broke the news yesterday that the company is dissolving and salary payments will be delayed until February 10, 2018. TechNode’s Chinese sister site has confirmed that the salaries are indeed delayed and that the company is in a poor state (in Chinese). Even more shocking is that […]
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Mobike co-founder: “Profit is not the most important goal for us for now”
At the Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, Hu Weiwei, co-founder and president of Mobike, took to the stage (in Chinese), dispelling rumors of a merger with ofo and explaining that they are not yet seeking profitability. Consolidation in the bike rental industry Hu Weiwei said that the biggest beneficiaries of the Didi and Uber war were […]
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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 […]
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One app to unlock all bikes gets locked out by ofo and Mobike
A company that promises to aggregate almost all of China’s hire bike companies’ services into one app has seen the door access to the big players’ bikes . The app, called Quannengche (全能车 “Omni ride”—our translation) was released by Shenzhen Qianhai Point to Point Technology Co. Ltd (深圳前海点点科技有限公司) in May, its latest update was July […]
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[Updated] Mobike jumps on hongbao bandwagon with “Mobike, mo’ money”
Mobike announced yesterday (in Chinese) that their app will now include the option to ride for hongbao (红包 or “red envelopes” in English). Similar to Pokemon GO, users can “hunt” for Mobike red envelope bikes (摩拜红包车). After riding one of the “Bonus Bikes,” as the company calls them, for at least 10 minutes, users are then […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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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[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 […]
