In what is so far the biggest and most dramatic implosion yet in the new global free-floating bike share boom, China-based Bluegogo has reportedly gone bankrupt with big bills, staff salaries and user deposits still outstanding.
Bluegogo was one of the first companies to try to operate in Seattle. They even got as far as bringing a bike to town, which Seattle Bike Blog had a chance to ride around downtown in May. The company planned 3,000 bikes for Seattle, but then abandoned its U.S. expansion plans before ever launching.
The company has barely been operating for a year, but in that time it raised about $90 million in funding and deployed 700,000 bikes across China before abruptly closing shop, the Guardian reports:
But as reports emerged Bluegogo was in trouble, Chinese social media erupted with users complaining they were unable to get their deposits back, and rumours that [CEO Li Gang] had fled the country.
Bluegogo claimed it had 20m users across China at its height in an open letter written by Li this week. That would mean the company at one point had at least 1.98bn yuan (£226m) in deposits, although it is unclear how much the company is currently holding.
Rumors have also spread on Chinese social media saying Li had left China, prompting him to post on his profile: “I have always been in the country, fighting on the front lines for redemption”.
The company’s operations will be taken over by another bike sharing startup, Li said in the letter. Visits by Chinese journalists to Bluegogo’s offices found the doors locked and office space abandoned.
Perhaps the wildest part of the story has to do with a promo campaign the company launched around the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It didn’t go well: (more…)