Bluegogo
Industry | Transportation |
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Founded | November 2016 |
Founder | Gang "Tony" Li (Chinese: |
Headquarters | Tianjin, China |
Area served | Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu |
Products | Bicycle-sharing services |
Website | Bluegogo.com |
Bluegogo | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | |||||||
Literal meaning | Little Blue Bike | ||||||
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Bluegogo (Chinese:
History
[edit]Bluegogo was founded in November 2016 by Gang "Tony" Li (Chinese:
In January 2017, Bluegogo announced plans to expand overseas to San Francisco, intending to "disrupt" the bike-sharing industry in the United States.[6] The announcement was met with resistance from local politicians, who objected to the lack of planning and permits for the "dumping of tens of thousands of bicycles" onto city streets.[7] Bluegogo scaled back its rollout plans and sought to cooperate with the city government, which later approved regulations on station-less bicycle-sharing systems to avoid similar problems in the future.[8] After failing to secure commercial permits, Bluegogo suspended its San Francisco operations and took their bicycles off the streets.[9][10]
According to The Seattle Times, Bluegogo has been discussing a launch in Seattle, along with rival private bicycle-sharing companies LimeBike and Spin.[11]
On 16 November 2017, Chinese media sources reported that the company had declared bankruptcy and shuttered operations after burning through 600 million yuan (US$119 million) in funds.[12] The bankruptcy was called by analysts as the first sign of a bursting of China's bike-sharing bubble.[13] Green Bike-Transit (Chinese:
Didi Chuxing signed an agreement with Bluegogo to partly acquire the assets of the company in December 2017, expanding Didi's business into the bike-sharing sector. And a number of Bluegogo's former employees have begun working for Didi.[16][17]
References
[edit]- ^ Shijia, Ouyang (24 November 2016). "Bike sharing business pedals 2 billion yuan plan". China Daily. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Sin, Ben (3 January 2017). "This Chinese bike-sharing firm has put 70,000 bicycles on the streets in just a month". Mashable. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ "Black Hole Capital Leads $58M Round In Chinese Bike Sharing Firm Bluegogo". China Money Network. 27 February 2017.
- ^ "USING NANJING'S FIVE VARIETIES OF PRIVATE SHARED BIKES". The Nanjinger. 25 March 2017.
- ^ "Bike-sharing business is flooding Nanjing's streets with bicycles". Jiangsu China. 12 January 2017.
- ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (17 January 2017). "China firm's plan to put bikes on SF streets met with anger". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Joe (17 January 2017). "SF threatens legal action against bikeshare company rumored to launch on city streets". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (23 January 2017). "Bike-sharing startup Bluegogo gets less feisty about plans". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Joe (15 March 2017). "SF passes new laws to penalize bike-share companies like Bluegogo". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Joe (30 March 2017). "Bluegogo to pull its bikes off SF streets". San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Gutman, David (2 June 2017). "Bike-share companies vie for chance to set up shop in Seattle — without stations". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- ^ Needham, Kirsty (16 November 2017). "Share bike bubble claims first big casualty as Bluegogo reportedly goes bankrupt". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ "China's bike-sharing bubble bursts as Bluegogo fails". Financial Times. 17 November 2017.
- ^ "Bluegogo CEO announces sale of company, admits to management mistakes in open letter". Technode. 17 November 2017.
- ^ Haas, Benjamin (17 November 2017). "Anger as Chinese bike sharing firm shuts up office with riders' deposits". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ "Didi Chuxing to Take Over Troubled Bike-Sharing Startup". Caixin Global. 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Didi Chuxing invests further in China's bike-sharing market". ZDnet. 4 January 2018.