China's Hellobike raises US$350m in latest funding round

Beijing

CHINESE bicycle-sharing firm Hellobike said on Monday that it raised US$350 million in its latest funding round from investors including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Ant Financial, confounding recent signs of strain in the nascent industry.

The Shanghai-based firm is among a slew of companies that have launched a wave of brightly coloured shared bicycles on to China's city streets over the past year. However, the sector now faces a shakeout with the third-largest firm announcing last month that it would cease operations.