ofo再獲10億美元注資

Chinese bike-sharing start-up Ofo has raised at least $1bn from investors including ecommerce group Alibaba, according to two sources familiar with the deal.The company is valued at $3bn, roughly the same as its rival Mobike with which it dominates the fast-growing market.

據兩名知情人士介紹，中國共享單車初創(chuàng)公司ofo從電商集團阿里巴巴(Alibaba)等投資者手中至少籌集了10億美元的資金。如今ofo的估值達到30億美元，與競爭對手摩拜單車(Mobike)相當。兩者主導著這個快速增長的市場。

Ofo has put 10m dockless bikes on China’s city streets, as well as 100,000 in 19 more countries , including an aggressive push into the UK and the US.

ofo在中國各個城市的街道上投放了1000萬輛無樁單車，同時在19個境外國家投放了10萬輛無樁單車，包括在英國和美國市場積極推進。

“Mobike versus Ofo is not just a battle between the two companies, but the whole ecosystem of services that their [respective] backers Tencent and Alibaba have created,” said Xue Yu, an analyst at IDC, the research company. Ofo and Alibaba declined to comment.

市場研究公司IDC的分析師薛宇表示，“摩拜和ofo之間的競爭不只是兩家公司之間的戰(zhàn)斗，而是它們(各自)的后臺騰訊(Tencent)和阿里巴巴創(chuàng)造的整個服務生態(tài)系統之間的戰(zhàn)斗。”ofo和阿里巴巴拒絕置評。

The shared bikes are connected to the internet and mostly GPS-tagged. They are unlocked and paid for using a smartphone app. Ofo’s app gives priority to Alipay users, the mobile payment platform run by Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Financial, while Mobike pushes Tencent’s WeChat Pay. Earlier this week, Ant Financial also joined a $350m fundraising round for Hellobike, the market’s third biggest start-up by users.

這些共享單車與互聯網連接，絕大多數有全球定位系統(GPS)跟蹤。使用者通過智能手機App解鎖共享單車并完成支付。ofo的App優(yōu)先照顧支付寶(Alipay，阿里巴巴旗下的螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)運行的移動支付平臺)用戶，而摩拜力推騰訊的微信支付(WeChat Pay)。本月早些時候，螞蟻金服還加入了哈羅單車(Hellobike)總值3.5億美元的融資。哈羅單車是該市場用戶量第三大的初創(chuàng)公司。

But bike-sharing companies have hit road bumps despite the money pouring into the sector. At least five start-ups have collapsed in the past six months. The companies have also been hit hard by bike theft and vandalism. Observers see consolidation as inevitable.

盡管資金不斷注入該市場，但共享單車公司在發(fā)展道路上遭遇了坎坷。過去6個月至少有5家初創(chuàng)公司倒閉。此外，這些公司還受到了單車失竊和毀壞的沉重打擊。觀察人士認為行業(yè)整合在所難免。

“There are 10 players now, but only three will remain,” said Rong Hua, an investor in rival Xiaoming Bike.

“現在有10個玩家，但只有3個能留下來，”小鳴單車的投資者之一Rong Hua表示。

As companies build scale, they have had to spend heavily and have yet to become profitable. Groups are churning out millions of bikes, leading city governments to cap the number of shared bikes cluttering the streets.

在各個初創(chuàng)公司擴大規(guī)模之際，它們不得不瘋狂燒錢，并且尚未實現盈利。各個集團投放了數以百萬輛計的單車，導致多個城市的地方政府設定了投放街道的共享單車數量的上限。

An exception is the much smaller but profitable and publicly listed Youon Bike, which recently merged with Hellobike.

與之不同的是規(guī)模小得多但已經實現盈利并且成功上市的永安行(Youon Bike)。最近永安行合并了哈羅單車。

The companies are adamant they can become profitable from user fees. But some analysts say the driver will be enabling marketers, real estate planners and local retailers to tap into user data.

這些公司堅持認為，它們可以通過用戶使用費實現盈利。但一些分析人士表示，盈利驅動因素將是讓營銷商、房地產策劃公司和當地零售商利用用戶數據。