Grab, Uber’s fundamental rival in Southeast Asia, appears to be moving into bike sharing after plans for a shared service with oBike surfaced in Singapore.
Last week, an eagle-eyed Singapore resident shared photos of Grab Cycle bikes – which also feature the oBike logo – being loaded right into a van.
TechCrunch.com, nevertheless, reported that Grab declined to comment when asked in regards to the integration, but it surely would not be a giant surprise because it is an investor in oBike, as we reported last yr, and it could possibly be expected that there can be a strategic element to this relationship.
However, the businesses announced on January 22 that oBike will integrate GrabPay, Grab’s mobile payment service, into its app. There was also a transparent hint of other imminent collaborations.
“The two technology companies are working closely together and more joint initiatives are in the pipeline to improve Singapore’s on-demand transport infrastructure. Details of these initiatives will be revealed in the coming weeks,” oBike said in a press release.
In a press release released later, Grab added its own less-than-precise confirmation of its upcoming bike-sharing partnership:
“We are expanding the usage of GrabPay beyond transportation and now have over 1,000 merchants in Singapore who accept GrabPay for other services corresponding to food and breakfast and retail. We will proceed to supply more places where our customers can use GrabPay and we’re open to any partnerships.
“We are all the time exploring recent mobility options and today we’re the one player offering a real multi-service transport offering – one which caters to consumers with different travel preferences and price points. While the launch of the brand new service continues to be within the early stages, we sit up for working with all transportation service providers within the industry.
Based on the TechCrunch.com team’s observations, it looks like the mixing will occur first in Singapore, but oBike is present in other markets in Southeast Asia, so there may be potential for a broader rollout.
oBike has raised over $50 million from investors and has 10 million users. While these numbers are impressive, they pale compared to Chinese unicorns Ofo and Mobike, which have collectively raised nearly $2 billion and expanded to 200 cities all over the world each.
Grab’s cooperation with oBike is in step with the trend of corporations transporting passengers using bicycles, and is interesting on several levels.
First, oBike competes with Ofo and Mobike, while Ofo itself is backed by Didi Chuxin, who can also be an investor in Grab.
The Didi-Ofo relationship hasn’t been great as Didi launched a service last week aimed toward containing the threat Ofo poses to its passenger transportation services, but Grab is hoping for the higher.
Source :TechCrunch.com
