New | Beijing’s Ofo to ship 20,000 bicycles for its ‘Uber for Bikes’ rental service in the UK and US
Ofo is setting its sights outside China to survive competition with 17 bicycle-sharing apps on the mainland
If entrepreneur Dai Wei has his way, Silicon Valley engineers and London college students will soon be able to ride bicycles made by one of the oldest makers in China, with the swipe on their smartphones.
Instead of selling the bicycles, the 25-year-old Dai wants to persuade cyclists to share them through his startup’s “Uber for Bicycles” business model.
Dai’s Beijing Bikelock Technology, also known as Ofo, is poised to ship 20,000 China-made bicycles to the United States and Britain after the Christmas holidays to begin the service.
“Short travels is a global demand,” said Dai, during an interview with the South China Morning Post in Beijing. “There are 3 billion netizens around the world, but the number of people who can ride bicycles is estimated to be more than 5 billion. If we do it right, we can have great potential overseas.”
Founded in 2014, Dai’s Ofo is valued at US$500 million, after securing US$100 million of funding in September from investors including the venture fund backed by Xiaomi Corp’s founder Lei Jun, and Didi-Chuxing, the country’s dominant ride-hailing service and buyer of Uber Technologies’ China business.
