Riding these bikes will require a US$50 deposit
Hong Kong-based bike-sharing service Gobee.bike has raised US$9 million in a Series A round led by Russian VC firm Grishin Robotics with participation from Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.
Gobee.bike will use the newly-raised financing to build up its technology, increase R&D efforts and expand into new markets.
When asked how Gobee.bike will compete with the twin Chinese titans of the bike-sharing world Mobike and Ofo (of which Alibaba is a major backer of), the company cited its technological advantages and cross-cultural team of both the founders and employees — who can bring their knowledge and experience of US, Asia, and European markets.
No specifics of the company’s supposed “technological advantages” were laid out.
Also Read: ofo catches up to Mobike with over US$700M Series E led by Alibaba, Hony Capital, and CITIC PE
Gobee.bike also cited its “top tier investors” and the team’s ability to execute quickly — Raphael Cohen, CEO & Co-Founder of Gobee.bike, is also the former co-founder of two Rocket Internet companies Foodpanda and HotelQuickly.
Rocket Internet is a venture builder renowned for picking entrepreneurs who can build and scale companies fast.
To drive up ridership, Gobee.bike has a digital “red packet” feature; riders who find bikes with embedded red packets — which can contain up to RMB 100 (US$14) — are allowed to ride the bikes for free for a certain amount of time.
In the coming months, Gobee.bike will also add more social functions, build up a community of users, improve the scalability of the platform and localise the app for new markets.
The spokesperson said thousands of bikes have already been deployed but did not specify a number; they also declined to disclose the number of users on the platform.
Gobee.bike is still at a very nascent stage of its lifecycle, and will need a much bigger war chest if it wants to compete with Mobike and Ofo, both of which have raised about a billion dollars each.
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Image Credit: Gobee.bike
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