Firms vie for clients as co-use business accelerates

As the sharing economy in China thrives and gives rise to a wide range of new businesses, competition in the domestic market is getting fiercer, especially in the bike-sharing sector.

Bluegogo International Inc, which used to rank as one of the top three Chinese bike-sharing companies, has gone bankrupt and reportedly owes nearly 200 million yuan ($30 million) to bicycle makers. On Nov 16, Bluegogo founder Li Gang admitted in a post on social networking platform WeChat that the company has faced severe operation problems.

In October, China's first listed bike-sharing firm, Changzhou Youon Public Bicycle System Co Ltd, said it would acquire Shanghai-based bike rental brand Hellobike, as it attempts to gain more strength to compete with other major domestic bike-sharing companies. The move also marked the first merger in China's bike-sharing sector.