Ofo
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Ofo was a Beijing-based dockless bike-sharing company founded in 2014 by five members of the Peking University cycling club, led by founder Dai Wei. It pioneered the park-anywhere bike rental model: users located and unlocked yellow bikes through a smartphone app, paying an hourly rate. By 2017 it had deployed over 10 million bicycles in 250 cities across 20 countries, with 62.7 million monthly active users, and was valued at up to $2 billion after raising more than $2 billion in total funding — including $130 million from Xiaomi and Didi Chuxing in 2016 and a $450 million Series D in February 2017 at a $1 billion valuation. In 2018 the company crashed: it burned through cash buying bikes and entering new markets, triggering a deposit bank run it could not pay, and began a global retreat. By 2020 it was no longer operating bike rentals; the company pivoted to an e-commerce app while still owing deposits to millions of users.
02 / Ofo FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Ofo burned through more than $2 billion buying new bikes and expanding into dozens of markets faster than unit economics could support. When users started demanding back their 99–199 yuan deposits, the company lacked the cash to pay, and the refund rush — with lines forming outside its offices — turned into a bank run it never recovered from. A Tianjin court later ruled it could not repay a RMB 250 million manufacturing debt, finding it had 'no assets'; founder Dai Wei was placed on a government debt blacklist. It rejected acquisition proposals from Didi Chuxing, Ant Financial, and Alibaba, and unlike its rival Mobike (bought by Meituan), it had no buyer to rescue it.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Five Peking University cycling club members, led by Dai Wei, founded Ofo; it launched in Beijing in June 2015.
- Peak
Ofo deployed over 10 million bikes in 250 cities across 20 countries, raised a $450 million Series D at a $1 billion valuation, and reached a $2 billion valuation with 62.7 million monthly active users.
- Collapse
Cash ran out; users rushed to reclaim deposits in a bank run Ofo could not pay; the company withdrew from most US cities and several countries.
- No assets
A Tianjin court ruled Ofo could not repay a RMB 250 million manufacturing debt, finding it had no assets; executives were debt-blacklisted.
- Defunct
Facing unpayable debt, Ofo stopped operating bike rentals in 2020 and pivoted its app to e-commerce while still owing deposits to millions of users.
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
Ofo expanded aggressively to 250 cities in 20 countries, deploying over 10 million bikes on more than $2 billion of funding.
- 02
Cash burn outpaced revenue; users began demanding back their deposits.
- 03
The refund rush became a bank run Ofo could not pay; the company withdrew from most overseas markets.
- 04
Courts found Ofo had no assets to repay suppliers; the founder was debt-blacklisted.
- 05
By 2020, Ofo stopped operating bike rentals and pivoted to e-commerce, leaving millions of users' deposits unreturned.