Gobee.bike
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Gobee.bike was a Hong Kong dockless bike-sharing startup founded in 2017 by Raphael Cohen. Its bright green bikes launched first in Hong Kong's New Territories, then expanded to France, Belgium and Italy, charging about HK$5 per 30 minutes.
02 / Gobee.bike FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Gobee.bike was destroyed by vandalism and broken unit economics. In Europe, 80-90% of its bikes were stolen or damaged within weeks, forcing withdrawal from Brussels, Lille, Reims and then all of France by February 2018. At HK$5 per 30 minutes, every bike lost money after costs - scaling the fleet just scaled the losses. Unable to ever turn a profit, it announced on July 10, 2018 that it would liquidate and end Hong Kong operations, shutting down globally days later.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Raphael Cohen founds Gobee.bike in Hong Kong, launching dockless bike-sharing in the New Territories.
- Operations scaled back
After mass theft and vandalism - bikes thrown into rivers, locks smashed - Gobee.bike withdraws from Brussels, Lille and Reims, then exits France and Italy entirely.
- Closure announced
On July 10, 2018, the company announces it will liquidate and end its Hong Kong operations, never having turned a profit; the shutdown goes global days later, with deposits refunded.
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
Dockless bike-sharing: green bikes, HK$5 per 30 minutes
- 02
Europe: 80-90% of bikes stolen or damaged within weeks
- 03
Withdrawal from France, Belgium, Italy by early 2018
- 04
Never profitable; liquidation announced July 10, 2018; global shutdown days later