Chinese bike-sharing start-up Ofo raises $1bn

China’s bike-sharing start-up Ofo has raised $1bn from investors including Alibaba, according to two sources familiar with the deal. Ofo provides dockless GPS-tagged bikes which can be unlocked using a smartphone app.

Each ride is paid for through the app, which gives priority to the Alipay mobile platform provided by Alibaba’s payments affiliate Ant Financial. Only a year after China’s bike-sharing craze began, Ofo has put 10m bikes on China’s city streets, as well as 100,000 in 19 other countries around the world. On Wednesday Ofo launched in Paris. Ofo declined to comment on the deal.