Ofo expanding into Japan market with Softbank

Ofo is expanding its business to Japan. SoftBank increased the number of companies they funded after last month's tie-up with WeWork. Now the Beijing-based unicorn startup will go to the bike-sharing market in Japan with Softbak for an undisclosed investment. The nirdock bike rental giant is taking a strategic step into the global market given the saturation in the local market.

Ofo has so far received funds from several investors including Alibaba, Didi Chuxing, and DST Global. The company founded by Dai Wei in 2014 has 8 million bikes and is claimed to have more than 100 million subscribers.

Bicycles are rented out and placed anywhere after the user scans the QR code via the app. Ofo will work with divisions at SoftBank who take care of IOT, robotics and cloud technology in their launch in Japan.

"Doing business in Japan is a great achievement for Ofo. In a country with a very strong cycling culture, Ofo will bend over backwards to improve user comfort in Japan," said Ofo Asia Pacific leader Lawrence Cao.

The company targets to build networks in 200 cities worldwide by the end of this year. At least the first 100 cities have managed to get in the early half of 2017 which the majority are in China and now they are starting to target cities abroad.

The market competition in China is very harsh and up to this point, Ofo has succeeded or is in an effort to approach the market in several countries in the world including England, Singapore, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and the latest is Japan.