Tencent jumps into China’s bike sharing war

Photo credit: Mobike.

While new regulations threaten to throttle China’s ride-hailing industry, the country’s bike sharing industry is taking off. Tencent, the largest company in Asia and the Chinese tech giant behind WeChat, is joining the fray.

On Friday, Beijing-based bike sharing startup Mobike announced a new round of funding. It didn’t disclose the amount, but the list of participating investors includes Tencent, Sequoia Capital, and Wang Xing, CEO of daily deals company Meituan-Dianping, which raised a record-breaking US$3.3 billion round earlier this year.

Mobike raised US$100 million in series C funding less than a month ago.

“Currently, we’re not disclosing details [of any partnership with Tencent],” a company spokesperson told Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: Mobike.

Beyond “improving their product and service,” the startup hasn’t released any details on where it plans to spend its fresh capital. However, Tencent’s investment might signal a future integration of Mobike’s services into WeChat, something Mobike’s PR would neither confirm nor deny.

The friend of my enemy is my…investor?

Mobike’s funding news comes just a few days after Ofo, another bike sharing startup based in China’s capital, disclosed its own US$130 million series C round of funding. In its press release, Ofo said it planned to partner with one of its main investors, ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing, on integrating its services into Didi’s app.

Interestingly, Tencent is one of Didi’s investors. WeChat users can access Didi’s ride-hailing services through the social messaging app, which means that even if Mobike doesn’t have plans to join the WeChat ecosystem, its competitor does.