China-based bicycle sharing service Ofo has begun talks to raise up to $1bn in a round that would be led by telecommunications group SoftBank, Reuters reported today, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ride hailing platform Didi Chuxing could also participate in the round, which would value Ofo at almost $3bn, according to the sources.
Ofo runs an app-based bike rental service that has more than 100 million registered users across 150 cities spanning China, Singapore, the UK and the US, and intends to be present in 200 cities spanning 20 countries by the end of 2017.
The company raised $700m just three weeks ago, in a series E round co-led by e-commerce group Alibaba, private equity firm Hony Capital and Citic Private Equity, a subsidiary of asset management firm Citic, and which included Didi Chuxing and investment firm DST Global.
The series E round increased Ofo’s total funding to $1.35bn since it was founded in 2014, with Didi Chuxing initially investing as part of a $130m series C round in October 2016.
Citic Private Equity, Matrix Partners, Coatue Management, Vision Plus Capital, GSR Ventures and entrepreneur Yuri Milner also took part in that round, before Didi Chuxing, DST, Citic Private Equity, Coatue and Matrix returned for a $450m round in April that included Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial.
Ofo’s most recent funding came less than a month after its biggest rival, Mobike, raised $600m in a series E round led by internet group Tencent.