Uber is getting into the dockless bicycle-sharing business with an acquisition reportedly worth $100-200 million:
Uber has acquired bike-sharing startup JUMP for an undisclosed amount of money. This comes shortly after TechCrunch reported that JUMP was in talks with Uber as well as with investors regarding a potential fundraising round involving Sequoia Capital's Mike Moritz. At the time, JUMP was contemplating a sale that exceeded $100 million. We're now hearing that the final price was closer to $200 million, according to one source close to the situation.
JUMP's decision to sell to Uber came down to the ability to realize the bike-share company's vision at a large scale, and quickly, JUMP CEO Ryan Rzepecki told TechCrunch over the phone. He also said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's leadership impacted his decision.
[...] JUMP is best known for operating dockless, pedal-assist bikes. JUMP's bikes can be legally locked to bike parking racks or the "furniture zone" of sidewalks, which is where you see things like light poles, benches and utility poles. The bikes also come with integrated locks to secure the bikes.
Also at VentureBeat, Recode, and The Mercury News.
Related: New Electric Bikes, Scooters, and Dockless Bicycles Hitting U.S. Streets
(Score: 5, Interesting) by drussell on Saturday April 14 2018, @04:45AM (5 children)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/25/chinas-bike-share-graveyard-a-monument-to-industrys-arrogance [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 14 2018, @05:03AM (3 children)
The Atlantic has a photo gallery [theatlantic.com] about China's excess of shared bicycles.
Links to the photos (in order) for those who don't have JavaScript:
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday April 14 2018, @12:19PM
Dude, I want a free electric bicycle. Let's get some illegal (trade) dumping of those.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Saturday April 14 2018, @05:51PM
Wow. I was in China in February and passed bike share bikes lined up on the way to work. The number of bikes didn't seem to justify the number of riders I saw, and the articles shared here are validating my mental math.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 14 2018, @10:22PM
Thank you for the direct links
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday April 14 2018, @06:05AM
Ah...
1) Go to China.
2) Buy thousands of discarded bikes.
3) Ship them to US (or Europe), clean them up and paint them.
4) Rent them out.
5) Profit!
When life isn't going right, go left.