China-based on-demand bicycle rental service Ofo has raised $1bn in funding from investors including e-commerce firm Alibaba, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing two sources familiar with the deal.
The other participants in the round, which valued Ofo at $3bn, have not been disclosed but a report in July 2017, shortly after Ofo’s last round, suggested telecommunications group SoftBank was in talks to lead the $1bn round with backing from ride hailing service Didi Chuxing.
Ofo runs an app-based bicycle sharing service equipped with some 10 million bikes stretched across 200 cities, most of which are in its home country, though it also has a presence in European centres such as London, Madrid, Milan, Vienna and Prague.
The latest funding was disclosed in a week when the company has expanded into France and announced plans to enter the Indian market. Ofo co-founder Pinjie Yang said in September this year it aims to be present in 30 countries by 2018.
The round increased Ofo’s overall funding to more than $2.35bn. Alibaba co-led its last round, a $700m series E, with private equity firm Hony Capital and private equity fund Citic Private Equity in July 2017, investing alongside Didi Chuxing and investment firm DST Global.
Didi Chuxing originally invested in the company as part of a $130m series C round in October 2016 that included Citic Private Equity, Vision Plus Capital, GSR Ventures, Matrix Partners, Coatue Management and private investor Yuri Milner.
Ofo subsequently raised $450m in a March 2017 series D round featuring Didi Chuxing, DST Global, Citic Private Equity, Matrix Partners and Coatue Management, before pulling in an undisclosed sum from Alibaba’s financial services affiliate, Ant Financial, the following month.
– Image courtesy of Ofo