Ofo gets $700m-plus in Alibaba-led series E funding

Photo credit: Ofo.

Ofo has raised more than US$700 million in its just-closed series E funding round, the company announced today.

The round was led by Alibaba, Hony Capital, and Citic Private Equity. Among the other participants were repeat investors DST Global and Chinese ride-hailing unicorn Didi Chuxing.

In a press release, Ofo – which launched in July 2015 – claimed that the US$700 million-plus cash injection is the largest investment in an app-based bike-sharing company to date.

Ofo’s previous capital raise took place as recently as April, when Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial invested an undisclosed sum into the Chinese company. It closed a series D round just a month earlier, raising US$450 million from investors, including Citic Private Equity, Atomico, Coatue Management, Macrolink Group, and Matrix Partners.

In its press release, Ofo suggests that it is the world’s largest dockless bike-sharing service by market share. It currently operates in 150 venues across several countries, including its native China, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Arch-rival Mobike – which is backed by Alibaba competitor Tencent – made its first forays outside of China earlier this year, launching its Singapore service in March and the United Kingdom last month. Mobike recently closed a US$600 million funding round led by Tencent.

Ofo and Mobike are the two most significant competitors in China’s increasingly crowded bike-sharing space. A host of smaller firms are also battling it out for market share. Local players Wukong and 3Vbike were forced to shut down their services, apparently due to their lack of an app-based tracking system which saw most of their bicycles end up lost or stolen.