Innovation

The core technology of this innovation is Mobike’s independently developed patented smart lock which integrated GPS and communication modules and combined by the newest Internet of things (IoT) technology. What users need to do just to find a Mobike bicycle, scan the QR code in the bike to unlock it automatically. Through the smartphone app, users can locate and use the nearest Mobike bicycle at anytime and anywhere. After arriving at the destination, they can park nearby in the appropriate area along the road.

This intelligent service first has been launched in Shanghai in 2016 and it was unprecedented success. Followed in this victory, Mobike expanded the market aggressively to almost every corner in China, the whole country was experiencing the wave of cycling. After that, Mobike had expanded to foreign markets, including Singapore, Britain, Italy, Japan and many other countries, over 200 cities, operating more than 7 million Mobike bicycles, with more than 200 million users worldwide, the quantity of daily orders exceeds 30 million, making it the world's largest platform for smart bike-sharing and Internet of things (IoT) technology.

As a result, this innovation encourages people to ride a bike instead of driving for short-distance travel and then it will help to reduce unnecessary oil consumption and carbon emissions. Moreover, this kind of affordable shared transportation for short urban travel can efficiently reduce the severe traffic congestion in big cities, result in the promotion of sustainable community development and gaining a better quality of city life.

Inspiration

There is an episode that lead Hu to the innovation. One day she went to West Lake which is a park perfect for cycling in Hangzhou. However, she was frustrated by the complex process procedures of renting a public bicycle. Obviously, she failed to see the West Lake on a bike. She could not accept the fact that the Internet has reached such a prominent level, however, people still cannot easily rent a bicycle. She was motivated by this unpleasant experience, determined to start the bike-sharing project.

Different from the majority of CEOs, Weiwei Hu used to be an experienced reporter. The experience of a media professional gives her a keen business sense and sensitivity to discover opportunity in more unconventional places. When this idea first came out, it was opposed by almost everyone. Because almost everyone who owns a bicycle in China has had the experience of being stolen. Some investors convinced that this is an investment with no return.

Opportunity is like this. It is an opportunity only when people don't understand it, look down on it, don't want to do it or dare to do it.

Hence, Weiwei Hu became the founder of Mobike, and the person who made this suggestion became her angel investor.

Overall impact

Suddenly, sharing bicycle jumped into popularity, especially among the young people in China. It is convenient for the group of people who cannot afford a car and usually take on public transport. Also, it increases the awareness of low carbon life, encouraging people to ride a bike in the form of more people concerned about the low carbon travel, and actively promote the choice of a healthy low-carbon way to travel.

On the other hand, the sizzling sharing bicycle market covered up part of the market risks. Many entrepreneurs blindly follow the trend of sharing economy, believed that it can bring about considerable returns. In fact, the enterprise should be careful to consider its own circumstance, because not everything is suitable or necessary to share.

Additionally, some phenomenon of low quality performance indicated that the average national quality still needs to be improved. For example, some of them locked or hid the shared bikes for their convenience so that other people could not use them. Furthermore, many shared bicycles were damaged resulting from the lack of awareness of public property protection, and the company had to suffer the exorbitant maintenance costs.

Business benefit

The booming market has attracted a lot of capital inflows. By the end of June in 2017, Mobike had made several rounds of financing, more than $600 million led by Tencent, which is one of Internet giants in China. In addition, Mobike has more than 200 million users, more than 30 terabytes of cycling data are produced every day, which is the most comprehensive big cycling data in the world. The analysis of big data created new opportunities for strategic cooperation with government and other industries which can also efficiently enhance its reputation, attracting more customers.

Social and environmental benefit

Since operation, Mobike users have cycled more than 5.6 billion kilometers, saving more than 1.26 million tons of carbon, which is equivalent to a reduction in the carbon emissions of 350,000 cars over the course of a year.

Moreover, bike-sharing data can support the decision-making of urban traffic planning, motivate users to make full use of public transport resources, and promote the construction of urban transport infrastructure, thus contributing to the development of sustainable cities.

In 2017, Mobike associated with UN Habitat, UN Environment, the World Health Organization, the World Resources Institute and others to promote the concept of "cycling changes cities" by establishing World Cycling Day on September 17th.

Interview

Hui Shi, Branding Manager