Hello Inc. (Chinese: 哈啰; lit. 'Hello'; formerly Hello TransTech, Hellobike) is a Chinese technology company headquartered in Shanghai, China. It is a leading mobility platform that offers diversified ride options covering two-wheelers, including shared bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters and battery swaps, and four-wheelers, including car-pooling and car-hailing.[1] Hello first focused on building market share for its bike-sharing service in China's second- and third-tier cities, before shifting its focus to China's largest urban regions.[2]
 | |
Native name | 哈啰 |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Hello TransTech Hellobike |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Internet Bike-sharing |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Founder | Lei Yang |
| Headquarters | , China |
| Website | hello-inc.com helloride-global.com |
As of September 2023, Hello had approximately 600 million registered users.[3] As of the end of 2022, Hello has provided services in more than 400 cities, with a total distance traveled of 42 billion kilometers, reducing carbon emissions by 1940 kilotons. [4]As of October 2022, Hello's active user scale surpassed that of the DiDi app to rank first in the industry, and its quarterly average number of daily active users (DAU) for the third quarter of the app broke through ten million, and climbed to a peak of 10.87 million in September 2022.[5]
History edit
2016 edit
Founded by Lei Yang in 2016 in Shanghai, Hello started with the familiar bike-sharing business. In November 2016, Hellobike announced that it has closed a Series A round of financing from GGV, which will be used mainly for the development and manufacturing of bicycles. At the same time, its founder Lei Yang also revealed that Hellobike will introduce other investment institutions afterward.[6]
2017 edit
In March 2017, Hellobike became the first shared-bike brand to introduce "virtual parking spots", with the service officially launched in Xiamen. Through the app, users can easily locate government-designated parking areas, marked as blue parking spots, covering locations within a one-kilometer radius. Hellobike staff stated that they utilize electronic fences and GPS technology to guide bicycles to designated parking areas, thereby promoting user parking compliance.[7]
On October 25, 2017, Lei Yang, the CEO of Hellobike, confirmed that Hellobike merged with Youon Low-carbon Technology Company Limited (which is a subsidiary of Yonganxing), and that he himself will be the CEO of the new company.[8] Youon Low-carbon Technology is a dockless bike-sharing subsidiary of Youon which mainly operates traditional docked public bikes and was listed in China's mainland stock market in August. Alibaba's financial arm, Ant Financial, invested in the subsidiary as well.[9]
On December 27, 2017, Hellobike announced the completion of RMB 1 billion D2 round of financing, which was led by Fosun Capital and followed by GGV Capital.[10]
2018 edit
On September 17, 2018, Hellobike announced in Shanghai that the company officially changed its name to "Hello TransTech" and launched a new brand labeling system.[11]
2019 edit
On August 29, 2019, Hello TransTech was invited to appear at the 2019 World Conference on Artificial Intelligence and officially released the latest iteration and upgrade of the wisdom system - "Hello Brain 2.0", which promotes the intelligence of operational decision-making for the whole chain of two-wheeled travel at Hello. Lei Yang, the CEO of Hello TransTech, said, "This marks the entry of Hello TransTech into a brand new stage of two-wheeled all-business intelligent operation, and artificial intelligence has become a powerful driver for the development of two-wheeled mobility."
On June 12, 2019, Hello TransTech and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) announced a US$145 million electric battery joint venture.[12] This operation aims to develop a network of stations that would enable riders to pick up fully-charged batteries.
2020 edit
On July 30, 2020, Hello TransTech, together with China Unicom, Ziguang Zhanrui, and Guanghe Tong, announced that Hello TransTech has taken the lead in applying 4G Cat.1 communication network in shared two-wheeled mobility services, and that the first batch of 1,500 Hello Boosters equipped with 4G Cat.1bis modules were put into use in July 2020, and that the Hello Bike equipped with 4G Cat.1bis modules will be activated within the year.[13]
2021 edit
On September 17, 2021, Hello TransTech celebrated its fifth anniversary with nearly 500 million registered users.[14]
On November 9, 2021, Hello TransTech announced that it had completed US$280 million in financing, with investment institutions including Ant Group and Alibaba Group. This is the first time that Alibaba has taken a stake in the company, and it is also the 2nd financing that Hello TransTech has received so far this year. During the year 2021, Hello TransTech completed financing of more than US$500 million.[15]
2022 edit
On January 12, 2022, Hello Shunfengche, a subsidiary of Hello TransTech, announced that the business has been online for three years. Since the pilot in six cities, including Hangzhou and Chengdu, in January 2019, the total number of completed orders of Hello Shunfengche has reached 300 million in three years, the number of certified owners has reached 18 million, and the total accumulated mileage has reached 20.2 billion kilometers.[16]
On May 7, 2022, "Hello TransTech" announced that it has upgraded its brand to "Hello", and its brand slogan has been changed to "Accompanying life every day". The new brand release also marks the completion of the "three-stage rocket" layout of two-wheeled shared services, four-wheeled travel services and emerging local life services, accelerating the expansion of the ecological map of "Travel + Local Life".[17]
2023 edit
On April 18, 2023, Hello was ranked 288 in the "2023-Hurun Global Unicorn List" with an enterprise valuation of RMB 22 billion.[18]
Rental bikes edit
The bike construction is as minimal as possible. The frame is made of steel and equipped with single speed gearing (Ratio 2:1). Brakes are two robust drum brakes and the wheels have airless tires. The bike an height adjustable seat and a basket.
To use the bike you will need to scan the bikes's individual barcode and have to unlock the bike via an App. Between seat and rear wheel the bike has an GPS and Internet connected lock.
App edit
The App is mainly used for the bike rental service (Finding bikes, unlocking and locking). On the other hand the App also offers services as Taxi shuttle, car and motorcycle rental as well as refueling and recharging.
References edit
- ^ "HelloRide Shared Micromobility: World's leading shared e-mobility operator". HelloRide (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ Choudhury, Saheli Roy (2018-08-29). "Still 'a lot of space' for competition in China's bike-sharing frenzy, says start-up exec". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
- ^ "详情-哈啰". www.hello-inc.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "HelloRide Shared Micromobility: World's leading shared e-mobility operater". HelloRide (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ 郑惠敏 (2022-10-26). "哈啰三季度季均DAU超越滴滴app，转型本地生活成效明显". 动点科技 (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "详情-哈啰". www.hello-inc.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "详情-哈啰". www.hello-inc.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "Hellobike确认与永安行合并，杨磊出任新公司CEO | 钛快讯". tech.ifeng.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ Liao, Alex (2017-10-25). "Bike-sharing startup Hellobike merges with rival, Ant Financial-backed Youon". AllTechAsia. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "共享单车现三足鼎立！哈罗单车再获10亿元D2轮融资". tech.ifeng.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "哈罗单车更名哈啰出行：业务链覆盖单车、助力车和汽车_10%公司_澎湃新闻-The Paper". www.thepaper.cn. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "China's CATL, Ant Financial and Hellobike set up e-bike battery firm". Reuters. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
- ^ "哈啰出行单车通信从2G升级至4G：首批1500辆车已投用_10%公司_澎湃新闻-The Paper". m.thepaper.cn. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "详情-哈啰". www.hello-inc.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "详情-哈啰". www.hello-inc.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "哈啰顺风车：三年完单总量达3亿 实现碳减排400万吨_中证网". www.cs.com.cn. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "详情-哈啰". www.hello-inc.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
- ^ "2023 · Hurun Global Unicorn List". Hurun.net.