ofo (/ ˈoʊfoʊ /) is a Beijing-based bicycle rental company founded in 2014. Since 2017, it has commissioned more than 10 million bicycles in 250 cities and 20 countries. To use bicycles, users must install a special application for smartphones, through which you can find a bicycle nearby and unlock it. For used, an hourly fee is charged. As of 2017, the company is valued at $ 3 billion and has more than 62.7 million active users per month. [1] [2]
| Ofo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Base | October 6, 2014 |
| Location | Beijing China |
| Key figures | Dai wei |
| Industry | transport |
| Products | shared bike services |
| Site | ofo.com |
Content
History
The company was founded in 2014 as a project by five members of the Peking University Bicycle Club, initially the project was aimed at cycling, and later a sharing model was adopted. [3] The company was named “ofo” because the inscription resembled a bicycle. [4] [5] [6] ofo was launched in June 2015 in Beijing and by October had already reached 20,000 users and 2,000 bicycles. [7] In 2016, the company's bikes began to appear in other cities of China, saying that by the end of the year a fleet of 85,000 bikes would be involved. In September 2016, the company attracted an investment of $ 130 million from leading Chinese companies Xiaomi and Didi Chuxing , which allowed it to go beyond China. [8] D-Series funding in February 2017 led by Didi Chuxing and a Russian investor, Digital Sky Technologies raised $ 450 million. The United States and the company was valued at $ 1 billion. Ofo began to expand outside of China in 2017, with the launch in Singapore in February 2017 of Cambridge , United Kingdom [9] in April, Seattle , USA in August, Sydney , Australia in October [10] . [11] [12]
In July ofo, ofo announced additional funding of $ 700 million in a round led by Alibaba , Hony Capital, and Citic PE. In February 2018, Texas A&M University partnered with ofo to launch a bike-sharing platform on campus. In addition, another $ 866 million was raised in March 2018, led by Alibaba.
Usage
To find bikes nearby, customers use the company’s mobile application on their smartphones. Each bike has a QR code on the frame, which the client scans to unlock the bike. This feature is also available in other collaborative applications such as WeChat and Alipay in China. Each bike is equipped with satellite GPS positioning, which allows users to see which bikes are available nearby. Users pay in the app using their credit cards. After customers have finished using the bike, they can leave it anywhere. Bicycles use the NarrowBand IOT to power locks developed by Huawei and China Telecom . [13]
Business
ofo has a network of more than 7.5 million bicycles, and about 500 million trips have been made since the company was established in June 2015. Their service was used by more than 30 million users in 46 cities around the world. The app recorded more than 100 million trips in 2017. [14]
ofo is partnering with Alipay, China's largest online payment platform. [15]
Disputes
Like many other bike-sharing companies, including ReddyBike and Obike. Ofo bikes have caused discontent in several cities, including Melbourne , Australia ; Dallas , Texas ; San Diego , California , because bicycles were thrown everywhere, and they blocked the road. [16] [17] Due to riots caused by abandoned bicycles, some cities in China began to regulate the number of bicycles placed in the city. [18]
Notes
- ↑ Lazo, Luz . Chinese bike-share giant Ofo is rolling into DC (English) , Washington Post (October 9, 2017). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Parents of Ofo's bike user sue company for negligence after accident , South China Morning Post . Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ You won't last 3 days, they told ofo co-founder, now a multimillionaire at 25 , Channel NewsAsia . Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ A new bike-sharing company called 'ofo' is rolling into cities around Boston - The Boston Globe , BostonGlobe.com . Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Tom Phillips. Bike-sharing revolution aims to put China back on two wheels . the Guardian (December 28, 2016). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Subscribe to read . Financial times. Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ “ofo bicycle”: riding bicycles anytime and anywhere_Peking University . newsen.pku.edu.cn. Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Chinese Startups Saddle Up for Bike-Sharing Battle (English) , Wall Street Journal (October 25, 2016). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ James Walsh. 'Uber for bikes' comes to Cambridge - if you can find it . the Guardian (April 21, 2017). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Kirsty Needham. World's biggest bike-share company Ofo to bring hundreds more bikes to Sydney . The Sydney Morning Herald (October 23, 2017). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ One Startup Builds $ 1 Billion Business Out of 15-Cent Bike Rides (Eng.) , Bloomberg.com (March 1, 2017). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Editorial, Reuters . Ofo, Chinese bike-sharing firm, raises $ 450 million in latest ... (English) , US . Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ The race is on: NB-IoT boosts smart bike sharing for ofo - Huawei case studies . huawei. Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Alibaba's Ant Financial invests in Chinese bike-sharing startup unicorn Ofo - TechCrunch . techcrunch.com. Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Dynamics between the trust transfer process and intention to use mobile payment services: A cross-environment perspective (English) // Information & Management. - 2011-12-01. - Vol. 48 , iss. 8 . - P. 393–403 . - ISSN 0378-7206 . - DOI : 10.1016 / j.im.2011.09.006 .
- ↑ For disabled people, rent-a-bikes are more than an annoyance, but do they violate the ADA? (English) , Dallas News (January 20, 2018). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ Kirsty Needham. Ofo, the world's biggest share bike scheme, comes to Australia . The Sydney Morning Herald (October 4, 2017). Date of treatment June 10, 2018.
- ↑ 道 不同 ， 不 相 怼 , 简 书 . Date of treatment June 10, 2018.