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Who are Mobike, the Chinese startup that thinks it has the solution to London's pollution problem?

In a sign of growing confidence from some of China’s top tech firms, more and more of the country’s biggest names are plotting expansion abroad as they look to expand out of their home market.

From tech behemoth Tencent’s plans to grow its WeChat platform in the UK and Europe to Alibaba’s self-proclaimed goal of becoming the first global Chinese company, it’s clear that the Asian nation’s tech success stories are hoping to make themselves known far beyond the confines of Beijing.

A similarly ambitious, but far less well-known, Chinese tech startup has also prioritised scaling into international markets to fuel its growth and this week kicked off its first jaunt abroad with some ambitious rhetoric to boot.

Bike sharing business Mobike, which is headquartered in Beijing, has launched its service in Manchester this week, giving Mancunians access to the what is described as the world’s first cashless and stationless bike sharing service.

How does it work?

Mobike has stationed bikes all around Manchester and Salford in specially marked zones. The bikes can be unlocked utilising the startup’s app, with each bike emblazoned with a scannable QR code while users lock the bike manually once they are finished with it.

The app is able to monitor how long a user has spent on the bike as well as a range of other behaviours such as whether they properly locked the bike or incorrect parking, charging them the appropriate fees or increasing costs in response to bad practice.

The bikes themselves can only be dismantled using custom tools to dissuade theft, while their airless tyres and aluminium alloy wheels mean they can purportedly function for four years without any maintenance.

Deep pockets, big plans

The company’s ascent has been mind boggling rapid, with 5m of its bikes now scattered around Far Eastern cities and claims that it is able to manufacture around 100,000 bikes per day.

Funding too has flowed in thick and fast, with a $600m Series E round this year, led by Tencent, bringing total funding at Mobike to over $1bn in 2017 alone.

It is already the world’s biggest bike operator and, naturally, has already eyed up a launch in London.

Speaking to City AM, Mobike’s UK general manager Steve Pyer, said the firm was already in discussions with Transport for London (TfL) about launching in the city, and was confident that its low footprint and zero cost to the public purse would see it launch in the capital soon.

He said: “Our plans aren’t for just one city outside of Asia. We’ve definitely got bigger plans than that.”

Pyer also added that the Mayor of London’s target of getting more Londoners cycling would get a serious shot in the arm if or rather when Mobike is to obtain approval from TfL to begin operating in the city - providing a boost to the city’s pollution targets too.

“The Mayor of London wants 1.2 million bike journeys a day and I believe we can be part of that,” he added.

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