Hellobike, the bike-sharing platform owned by Ant Financial-backed Hello Chuxing, has raised prices from 1 yuan (USD 0.15) per half-an-hour to 1 yuan per 15 minutes for users in Beijing.
The higher prices in Beijing won’t impact the majority of Hellobike’s 200 million users, many of whom are based in China’s second- and third-tier cities.
A host of bike-sharing companies have increased prices recently, as the industry hopes to move past the days of loss-making hyper-growth into a more sustainable growth stage.
Hellobike’s price hike comes on the heels Meituan’s Mobike raising prices in the wake of mounting losses. Mobike’s prices are identical to HelloBike’s.
Didi-operated bike-sharing platform Bluegogo debuted the same pricing scheme for all the cities in which it operates on March 21.
Meanwhile, Ofo, in full retreat from international markets and rumored to be in dire financial straits—which the company refutes—has yet to raise prices for customers.
Hello Chuxing is undergoing a restructuring process that saw 15 early investors withdraw from the company last week, decreasing its registered capital from RMB 1.03 billion (USD 153 million) to RMB 43 million.
Around the same time, reports emerged that Hello Chuxing is seeking to raise at least USD 500 million in a new round. The company was valued at USD 2.3 billion in June and completed an RMB 4 billion (USD 596 million) round in December. It has begun offering ride-sharing options beyond bicycles.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad
