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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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 […]
Exclusive: Bluegogo VP confirms leaving the company months ago, staff waiting for salary for months
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 […]
Shanghai just says “No” to more dockless bikes
Shanghai transportation authorities jointly announced on August 18 that no more new bikes should be placed in the city, taking a firmer stand in its moves to crack down on bike rental services, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting. “Upon the announcement of this regulation, all bike-rental companies should place a halt on introducing any […]
Ofo founder: Ofo will be profitable next year mainly from riding costs
The founder and CEO of the Ofo Dai Wei said that the main source of revenue for Ofo will be the user’s riding costs at the 2017 summer Davos Forum site held on June 28th. (Chinese source) “We now see many people in the street using Ofo, and we are confident that we can make […]
Didi continues pivot into two wheeled mobility with beta test of electric bike rental
Chinese ride-hailing behemoth Didi is beta-testing its electric bike rental service in South China, a person with knowledge of the matter told TechNode. Didi is said to have won the initial support of at least three cities. The firm is expected to develop its own bike rental brand, or potentially a separate app, with an access […]
Didi app embeds ofo to provide flexible solution for short trips
After weeks of rumors, Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing announced today it has added bike-sharing service from ofo to its app. DiDi users will have direct access to ofo’s bright yellow bikes in the app. As a major investor of ofo, DiDi has poured a combined hundreds of million USD in three financing round of the […]
Ofo teams up with largest bicycle producer Fushida
The race is still on in China’s bike-rental sector. Bike-rental startup ofo and the world’s largest bicycle producer Fushida recently entered into a strategic partnership that will see the latter manufacture 10 million bicycles for ofo every year, local media is reporting (in Chinese). Fushida chairman Xin Jiansheng expected the company’s annual production capacity to top 20 […]
Gold bike startup looks for buyer as users demand deposits back
Crowds of people descend on the Coolqi bike hire scheme’s head office in Tongzhou to get their deposits back as Coolqi founder and CEO Gao Weiwei (高唯伟) tells our sister site that the company is not bankrupt, but that he has been removed as CEO (in Chinese). The company’s WeChat payments have been frozen and it is […]
Ofo launches in US capital, hopes to conquer US market within a year
Ofo, China’s leading bike rental company, announced October 10 its launch in Washington, D.C., following Seattle and Massachusetts. The fast-expanding firm will deploy 400 of its yellow bikes over the course of its first week, as the local government only allows 400 bikes on the streets during the “demonstration stage.” The local regulator appears to be extra […]