Bike-sharing startup from China Mobike has officially announced that they have already pulled the plug, leading to an end onto their operations last week. While its rival Ofo is already seeing its fall after dominating the bike-sharing scene and industry of China for several years.
Mobike Pulling the Plug
Mobike has officially announced that they would put a stop on their operations around the streets of China after five years of providing a bike-sharing service through its mobile apps, including a what could be considered as a pioneering force on this type of industry.
Yet in 2018, the startup was eventually acquired by Meituan - an online delivery platform and local services app in China. Mobike was acquired due to the rising demand for Meituan during that time as it could provide additional arm to the then turned mother company and owner of Mobike.
But now, the bike-sharing app has halted their operations of their very own mobile app, as well as their WeChat mini program just last Monday midnight. Its bikes, however, will still be accessible and available for the public through the Meituan app. Their bikes would be the only thing that would be the remains of the former bike-sharing giant in Meituan itself.
The Rise and Fall of Ofo
Its former rival, Ofo on the other hand, has still not yet announced that they will already give up their current operations. Although since it faced a financial hole in already two years ago, they were considered to have never recovered from the challenges they have faced in the past brough upon by the financial problem. But earlier this year, the company have already abandoned their self-developed and made bike-sharing interface, and transformed it on to a shopping app.
Their shopping app as of the moment are currently offering to compensate the millions of users in which the company still owes their deposit money that are in line with the rebates for shopping which are in lieu of refunds. Today, the bikes under the company could be rarely seen on the streets of China anymore, as it was already replaced by now the kings of bike-sharing industry in China, Didi Bike and Hellobike.
The year 2015 saw the dawn of Mobike and Ofo as the 'pioneers' of making dockless, GPS-connected bikes which could be rented through mobile apps an in-demand thing in China during that time. The difference maker which the two apps have introduced would mainly be the capability of Mobike and Ofo bikes which could be locked and unlocked through using their apps, respectively. It then allowed their users to leave and pick-up their bikes anywhere in the cities which the two apps have operated in the past.
Both of the companies were instant superstars as they saw massive popularity during their breakthrough year. They even surpassed the 1-billion USD valuation mark where both of which saw growth and development to further continue their operations in more than 200 cities from 20 different countries and regions on a worldwide scale.
