Singapore’s Temasek invests in China’s Mobike ahead of expansion

Photo credit: Mobike.

China’s Mobike, a bicycle-sharing service that works through an app, this afternoon announced it has received funding ahead of its launch in Singapore.

Mobike’s newest investment is from Singapore’s Temasek, a state-owned sovereign wealth fund making its maiden investment in the Chinese team, and return investor Hillhouse Capital. The amount is undisclosed, but the startup says it has raised over US$300 million so far this year – that’s US$215 million series C in January, plus Foxconn’s contribution shortly after, and today’s newest input.

See: I tried using a bike-sharing app all day and my conclusion is that people are assholes

“In just 10 months, Mobike has grown to serving more than 10 million users across 21 cities – and in that time, people across China have taken more than 200 million Mobike rides. This equates to a reduction in carbon emissions of hundreds of thousands of tonnes,” said CEO Davis Wang. It’s unclear if that’s registered or active users.

The startup is set to roll into Singapore before the end of March.

A Singaporean rival, called Obike, recently popped up in a bid to counter the invasion of orange-rimmed Mobikes.

“We are actively looking at opportunities in other international cities,” a Mobike spokesperson told Tech in Asia at the start of the year.