China-based bicycle rental platform Ofo has secured RMB1.77bn ($280m) in financing from e-commerce group Alibaba, Asia Times reported today, citing local publication The Paper.
Founded in 2014, Ofo operates a dockless bicycle sharing service that counted 200 million registered users globally as of the end of 2017.
Ofo pledged its bike assets twice to secure the debt financing according to The Paper, a similar approach to one it chose when it raised $79m from Shanghai Yunxin Venture Capital, an affiliate of Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial services affiliate, last month.
The company also mortgaged some of its bikes against a $200m cash injection from Alibaba subsidiary Zhejiang Tmall Network last month. Alibaba reportedly bought $3bn worth of shares in Ofo in January 2018 from VC firm GSR Ventures.
Ofo had previously confirmed it had raised more than $1.35bn in funding. A prospective $1bn funding round featuring Alibaba reported in December 2017 fell through after another investor, ride hailing service Didi Chuxing, refused to sign off on the deal.
Alibaba had co-led the company’s $700m series E round in July 2017 with Hony Capital and Citic Private Equity, taking part alongside Didi Chuxing and DST Global.
Didi Chuxing, Citic PE, Matrix Partners and Coatue had backed Ofo’s $450m series D round in March 2017, investing alongside DST Global, before Ant Financial added an undisclosed sum the month after.
Didi Chuxing had previously participated in a $130m series C round for the company in 2016, that included GSR, Citic PE, Vision Plus Capital, Matrix Partners, Coatue Management and private investor Yuri Milner.