oBike raises US$45m to power global expansion
SINGAPORE — Home-grown bike sharing firm oBike has raised US$45 million (S$61.55 million) to expand its dockless bike operations on the international stage.
With the latest round of funds invested by venture capital firm Grishin Robotics, an unnamed “leading global transportation platform” as well as several family offices in South-east Asia, oBike plans to “shift its gears to become a global player”, the firm said in a media statement on Wednesday (Aug 15).
Its two-wheelers with bright yellow and black frames were first launched in the Republic in January, and have since been rolled out in Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
oBike co-founder and chief marketing officer Edward Chen said the firm has realised its vision of “transforming how people in urban Singapore travel using technology”.
Like its rival firms Mobike and ofo — which are headquartered in China — oBike’s “smart bikes” can be unlocked by scanning a QR code via mobile apps. They also make use of GPS (global positioning system) technology to track down bikes that have been indiscriminately parked.
While all three firms have positioned themselves as convenient first- and last-mile solutions, many users also hop onto their bikes for leisure rides during the weekend.
Mr Chen said: “We aim to bring our success story in Singapore to other parts of the world with this round of funding. We hope to empower commuters globally with flexibility, convenience while helping them reduce their carbon footprint at the same time.”
All three bike-sharing firms have been raising funds to expand their footprint overseas.
In June, Mobike announced that it had raised US$600 million, with backers including Tencent and the Chinese affiliate arm of Silicon Valley’s Sequoia, to ride its bike-sharing service into other markets, including Japan.
Mobike, which spots bright orange bikes, currently has a presence in 100 cities, most of which are in China. The company expanded to Singapore at the end of last year and has recently launched a pilot service for 1,000 bikes in the UK, starting in the cities of Manchester and Salford.
Last month, ofo said it raked in a mammoth US$700 million, which will also be used to power global expansion. It aims to deploy 20 million bikes and grow its service to reach 200 cities in 20 countries around the world by the end of this year.
CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story said oBike raised S$45 million. The company has clarified the amount is US$45 million.
