After Mobike and ofo, a new player is joining the heated race of bike sharing apps in China.
Xiaoming Danche, or Xiaoming Bike, on Saturday announced that it had secured RMB 100 million (USD 15 million) in Series A financing led by William Deng, the founder of China’s sport bike maker CRONUS.
As opposed to the bike maker and bike sharing app Mobike, Xiaoming Danche refits pre-existing bikes to make them appropriate for sharing. Locks on bikes are synchronized to work with the app. The cost to fit out each bike for sharing is RMB 500.
Deng believes bikes are more than transportation vehicles. They are a lifestyle of cycling, low-carbon transportation, fashion, and leisure.
Founded in 1993, bike maker CRONUS is listed on China’s New Third Board. Ever since its establishment, the company has produced sports bikes for the Western market. In 2010, it launched bikes in China.
Still, Xiaoming Danche is a relatively new player in the field. Last month, ofo and Mobike, two leading bike sharing apps in China, successively announced their Series C financing. Didi Chuxing invested tens of millions of dollars in ofo. Sequoia Capital and Hillhouse Capital backed up Mobike with USD 100 million.
While ofo focuses on college students, Xiaoming Danche offers bikes to residents from first-tier to fourth-tier cities. It first launched bikes in central business districts, where the usage frequency is relatively high. It is scheduled to launch 100,000 bikes in Shanghai first by the end of this year.
(Top photo from Biketo.com)