Hillhouse, Warburg, Tencent lead round for China’s Mobike

The size of the transaction wasn't disclosed but it is understood to be more than $100 million. Sequoia Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Bertelsmann Asia Investments, Joy Capital, Panda Capital, Vertex Ventures China, Sinovation Ventures and Xing Wang, CEO of Meituan-Dianping, also participated, according to a statement posted on Mobike's official WeChat account.

Mobike was co-founded by former executives at Uber China and Ford Motor Company in January of last year. It started offering its bicycle rental services in Shanghai in April and has since expanded into Beijing and Guangzhou. The company manufactures its own bikes in order to lower maintenance and repair costs. It now has around 13,000 vehicles.

Smart phones are used to scan the QR code on the bike, unlock the smart lock and start a timer. The user can drop the bike off anywhere in the city on completion of their journey. The company charges RMB1 per half hour, and payments can be transacted through Alibaba Group's Alipay system and Tencent Holdings' WeChat.

Mobike previously received backing from Joy Capital, Panda Capital and Sinovation. The new capital will be used to expand market share.

Earlier this week, Ofo, a Chinese online-to-offline (O2O) bike-sharing platform, raised a $130 million Series C round of funding across two tranches. Local ride-hailing app operator Didi Chuxing led the initial tranche of investment. Ofo focuses on Chinese campuses, allowing students to share bikes.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• TMT
• Transportation
• Hillhouse Capital Management
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• Tencent
• Qiming Venture Partners
• Sequoia Capital