Slashdot Mirror
The Uber-For-Bikes Startup Is Now Officially Part of Uber (qz.com)
Uber's first acquisition under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is of Jump Bikes, a startup that rents out shared electric dockless bikes in San Francisco and Washington DC. "The deal comes two months after Uber partnered with Jump in San Francisco to make bike rentals available through the Uber app," reports Quartz. From the report: TechCrunch reports that the deal was valued at close to $200 million. Jump, which launched in 2008 as Social Bicycles, had raised about $15 million in funding. In January the company became the first in San Francisco to receive a permit for a dockless e-bike program. Jump's team will stay "independent and focused on growth vs. integration," with CEO Ryan Rzepecki reporting directly to Khosrowshahi, Uber's CEO told his company in an email this morning (April 9). In a post on Medium, Rzepecki said Khosrowshahi's leadership made Jump feel more comfortable with the deal. "We could see the shift in the company once Dara was named CEO as he began leading with humility and in a way that we felt reflected our values," Rzepecki wrote.
How the hell does a broke company buy another broke company? Guess I need to tune into this week's Silicon Valley to find out.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
I see lots of electric rental bikes in Europe. They all have a dock, so they can get charged up. Dockless bike = dead battery?
dockless is like Mountain View where there are little yellow bikes laying around everywhere. You can even find them in the local creek
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
$200 MILLION sounds like a LOT of bike rentals
We'll make it work as soon as we figure out this little car rental thingie.
The "Uber for" moniker is used to describe gig economy stuff where you're workers are paid piecemeal instead of in wages & benefits.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
It's a glorious Chinese invention that is now being copies by the west, much like paper or compass once.
99% of the shared-bikes in China are not electric. They are pedal powered.
There are some battery powered e-bikes, but I have no idea how they get charged. I have never seen one in a "dock", and have never even seen a dock for them. They are just parked randomly on the street like the pedal powered Ofo and Mobikes. Maybe someone comes in the middle of the night to charge them.
The pedal powered bikes seem way more popular, most likely because of the price. One RMB (15 cents) for 30 minutes. You use your phone to scan the QR-code sticker on the bike, and then your phone displays a four digit code that unlocks the bike. You ride it anywhere, get off, re-engage the lock, and walk away.
The bikes are everywhere. There are dozens or even hundreds on every block in Shanghai.
So how do the bike companies make money renting the bikes for so little, while dealing with theft, damage, maintenance, etc? Anwer: They don't. Both Ofo and Mobike are losing millions trying to crush each other out of the market. Once one of them goes out of business, or (more likely) they merge, the price will go up.
I've used them just because I've never used a e-Bike before and was curious. It is $2 for 30 minutes.