Mobike
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Mobike (摩拜单车) was a Chinese station-less bike-sharing company founded in Beijing in 2015 by former journalist Hu Weiwei, with Wang Xiaofeng (Davis Wang) as CEO. Using GPS-equipped bikes unlocked and paid for via a smartphone app, it became the world's largest shared-bike operator at its peak, with over 30 million rides a day, and was a pioneer of dockless bike-sharing in China and overseas. In April 2018 it was wholly acquired by Meituan-Dianping for $2.7 billion; the brand was later retired and the Mobike app and WeChat mini program were discontinued on December 14, 2020, with everything migrated to the Meituan app.
02 / Mobike FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Mobike's story was defined by the brutal economics of the bike-sharing wars. It and rival Ofo waged a costly war of subsidies, flooding cities with bikes amid rampant price wars, theft and damage, and never found a profitable business model. Mobike burned through nearly $1 billion raised in 2017 alone - including a $600 million Series E led by Tencent - and posted a gross loss of 407 million yuan ($59.8 million) in the first four months of 2018. The Meituan acquisition ended its independence; its international expansion was retreated and the brand retired as Meituan imposed strict cost control.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Hu Weiwei establishes Mobike in Beijing; Davis Wang (Wang Xiaofeng) becomes CEO; the first bikes roll out in April 2016.
- Peak funding
Mobike raises $600 million in Series E funding led by Tencent in June 2017, bringing the year's fundraising to nearly $1 billion at a $3 billion valuation.
- Acquisition
Meituan-Dianping acquires Mobike for $2.7 billion in April 2018; Hu Weiwei resigns as CEO in December 2018; Mobike exits most overseas markets.
- Brand retired
Mobike is rebranded as Meituan Bike and moved into the Meituan app; offices are folded into Meituan's headquarters.
- App discontinued
On December 14, 2020, the Mobike mobile app and WeChat mini program are discontinued; all accounts, bikes and operations migrate to Meituan.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Mobike raised nearly $1 billion in 2017 alone, including a $600 million Series E led by Tencent at a $3 billion valuation.
- 02
Meituan-Dianping acquired Mobike for $2.7 billion in April 2018; Meituan incurred a net loss of 28.8 billion yuan in H1 2018 mainly due to Mobike's acquisition costs, and Mobike accounted for over half of Meituan's 8.5 billion yuan net loss in 2018.
- 03
Per Meituan's IPO prospectus, Mobike posted a gross loss of 407 million yuan ($59.8 million) on 147 million yuan of revenue in the first four months of 2018; in Dec 2020 the Mobike app was discontinued and the brand fully absorbed into Meituan.