BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- China's leading bike-sharing service ofo announced Tuesday that it had raised another 866 million U.S. dollars in its latest round of funding led by Alibaba Group.
The investors included Haofeng Group, Tianhe Capital, Ant Financial and Junli Capital, and a combination of debt and equity was used in the financing, the company said in a statement.
"As the global leader in the bike-sharing sector, ofo has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development," Dai Wei, ofo founder and CEO said.
Founded in 2014, ofo shot to fame with a model providing non-docking public bikes. Users can find a bike parked in the street, unlock it using a code via their mobile phone and park it anywhere after use.
The new round of funding marked its highest so far, following a 700-million-dollars funding round last July, which was backed by investors including Alibaba.
The company has been accelerating its expansion overseas, launching services in major global cities such as Washington D.C. over the past year.
It now operates in over 250 cities across 21 countries with more than 10 million bikes, according to the company.
China's bike-sharing market has grown rapidly over the past few years as part of a booming digital economy, which is reshaping the country's economic landscape.
