Start-ups

In 2015, China’s bike-sharing start-ups were pedaling towards massive profits, thanks to billions of dollars of investment capital. Following a similar business model as Uber, but for bikes, Mobike and Ofo quickly swept across China, their colorful bikes flooding city streets as they provided an emission-free solution to China’s congestion. Both start-ups quickly became unicorns, surpassing US$1 billion in valuation each and growing to operate in about 20 countries.  But five years later, the dockless bicycle-sharing phenomenon - hailed as one of the world’s hottest start-up trends - has officially gone bust, leaving an array of big-name investors and angry riders in their wake. Last week,