Chinese bicycle-sharing service, ofo bicycle announced successful C round financing of about $130 million as investors rushed to tap the growing bicycle-sharing community.

The funding mainly came from American hedge fund Coatue, Chinese Internet giant Xiaomi and CITIC Private Equity.

The startup also received millions of U.S. dollars of funding from China's top car-hailing service Didi Chuxing as part of a strategic collaboration agreement in late September.

The bike service, which runs via a mobile app, started out as a student project in Peking University in 2014. It now has over 70,000 bikes on campuses across 20 cities, with 1.8 million users taking around 500,000 rides every day.

China's nascent bicycle-sharing market has attracted much venture capital, with four Chinese startups, including ofo and Mobike, each raising between $1.49 million and $100 million in September.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2016)