China’s Didi Chuxing unveiled its bike-sharing platform today and, as expected, it looks like a very aggressive move to protect its position. When Didi first announced its plans to offer rides from Ofo and Bluegogo inside its app, I argued that this was far from a positive gesture since the ultimate goal is control. By introducing its own service inside its own app to its own… Read More
Category: bike sharing
Didi has a brilliant plan to contain the threat of China’s bike-sharing services
China’s Didi Chuxing unveiled its bike-sharing platform today and, as expected, it looks like a very aggressive move to protect its position. When Didi first announced its plans to offer rides from Ofo and Bluegogo inside its app, I argued that this was far from a positive gesture since the ultimate goal is control. By introducing its own service inside its own app to its own… Read More
Social Bicycles raises $10 million Series A round, rebrands as Jump Bikes
Social Bicycles, now officially known as Jump Bikes, has just closed a $10 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Sinewave Ventures, Esther Dyson and others. “At Menlo Ventures, our investment team supports entrepreneurs who are on a mission to change the world—including, how consumers move through it,” Menlo Ventures Managing Director Shawn… Read More
Jump will be the first stationless, e-bike-sharing service to launch in SF
Social Bicycles, maker of the Jump pedal assist e-bikes that don’t require docking stations, has received a permit from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to launch 250 dockless electric bikes in San Francisco sometime between now and the end of March. This is the first permit the city has issued to an electric, stationless bike-share provider.
“Jump Bikes has… Read More
LimeBike unveils pedal assist e-bikes
On the heels of Motivate’s announcement that it’s launching an e-bike pilot program in San Francisco, startup LimeBike is essentially doing the same, but sooner. At CES, LimeBike unveiled its new electric pedal assist bikes, which use electric power to give your pedaling a boost and make riding up hills a breeze. While Motivate is rolling out its e-bikes for the Ford GoBikes system… Read More
LimeBike unveils pedal assist e-bikes
On the heels of Motivate’s announcement that it’s launching an e-bike pilot program in San Francisco, startup LimeBike is essentially doing the same, but sooner. At CES, LimeBike unveiled its new electric pedal assist bikes, which use electric power to give your pedaling a boost and make riding up hills a breeze. While Motivate is rolling out its e-bikes for the Ford GoBikes system… Read More
Ford GoBikes are going electric in San Francisco
Motivate, the company behind the San Francisco area’s bike-share system, is adding pedal-assist e-bikes to its fleets this April. The one-year pilot will launch with 250 e-bikes in SF, the company announced today. The bikes, created by startup GenZe, are designed to assist riders as they’re pedaling, therefore reducing the need for much energy while biking — especially uphill. Read More
Mobike lands investment from Line to grow its bike-sharing service in Japan
Dock-less bike rental company Mobike is teaming up with messaging app firm Line to boost its presence in Japan. Line, which is Japan’s most popular messaging app with 71 million users in the country, is making an undisclosed investment in Mobike Japan, the Chinese firm’s entity in the country. The deal will see the Mobike service integrated into the Line app the same way that it… Read More
Uber’s Indian rival Ola begins offering a bicycle-sharing service
Ola, the company battling Uber in India, has turned to pedal power after it introduced a bike-sharing service. China’s Didi Chuxing and Grab in Southeast Asia have invested in bike-sharing companies, which offered dock-less bikes that users can pick up across a city and leave anywhere they want when they’re done, and now Ola — which recently raised $1.1 billion in fresh… Read More
Co-founder of unicorn InMobi is launching a bike-sharing startup in India
Over in India, there are a handful of startups working to get the country’s billion-person population on bikes. One of them is Yulu, co-founded by Amit Gupta, who formerly co-founded profitable, billion-dollar startup InMobi. In the next three to four weeks, Yulu will launch its bike-sharing service in Bangalore with a few hundred bicycles. Yulu is starting with regular, dockless… Read More
Bike-share platform Spin poaches Seattle transit regulator and launches in a dozen new cities
Spin, one of several bike-sharing companies now vying for dominance in a number of U.S. cities, has a new weapon to wield against its competitors: Kyle Rowe, the architect of Seattle’s permissive and apparently successful bike-share permit system, who is joining the company to work on government partnerships. In addition, Spin is gearing up to launch in a dozen or so new cities. Read More