Ninebot: The Chinese Firm that Dominated the Global E-scooter Industry
With urban cities becoming more congested, a new trend dubbed “micro-mobility” has started in recent years to alleviate traffic conditions. Micro-mobility refers to the use of other urban transportation other than cars and mass public transit to travel from a point to another. Bike-sharing is an example that became hugely popular around the world. Electric scooter (also known as E-scooter) on the other hand, has caught on in the United States (US). Unbeknown to many, up to 90% of the e-scooters travelling across the walkways in the US are produced by Beijing-based Ninebot Inc.
E-scooters are hugely popular in the US, with several companies vying for a piece of the market. Lime and Bird are the pioneers of the scooter-sharing model, with Uber Technologies and Lyft entering the market in the later stages. Other nations have also picked up the trend, with Grin launching in Mexico and Grab launching e-scooter sharing services in selected areas in Singapore. Similar to bike sharing, users simply scan a QR code on each e-scooter to unlock while fees are mostly charged on a per minute basis.
The Rise of Ninebot
Founded in Beijing in 2012, Ninebot capitalized on the growing Chinese market to become one of China’s largest robotic mobility equipment manufacturer and boast a legion of investors including Sequoia Capital and Xiaomi Corporation. Despite being embroiled in a lawsuit filed by Segway for copying its famous two-wheeler personal transportation device, Ninebot bought the company for an estimated $75 million. The acquisition provided Ninebot access to the American consumer market while bringing over 400 patents owned by Segway. Ninebot is currently valued at approximately $1.5 billion and has made plans for a public offering.
With the boom of e-scooter in the US, Ninebot rose to prominent fame within the industry as only one of the few companies with the manufacturing capabilities to produce hundreds of thousands of e-scooters. E-scooter sales grew by 600% in 2018, mostly due to orders from the US, according to Ninebot Chief Executive Officer Gao Lufeng. Ninebot currently supplies e-scooters to Bird, Lyft and Uber; it recently severed ties with Lime after disagreements over handling of the defective e-scooters. Ninebot estimates it will sell one million e-scooters in 2018, up from 600,000 in the previous year.
Nonetheless, Gao says that it only accounted for one-fifth of its total revenue. Majority of its revenue comes from its range of personal transportation devices, from self-balancing unicycles to e-gokarts and e-skates. Ninebot latest venture is in unmanned delivery vehicles. Its latest autonomous delivery vehicle named ‘Loomo’ is currently undergoing trials with Meituan-Dianping. Loomo is capable of traversing around buildings to deliver goods straight to workers’ desks.
E-Scooter: Boon or Bane?
In spite of the convenience and relatively low cost of e-scooters, there have been many concerns raised regarding the future of e-scooter. Poor regulations and reckless behavior by riders have led to a wave of injuries in many US cities, ranging from broken bones to fatalities. Some US cities such as Beverly Hills and North Carolina have taken action to ban e-scooters until further studies on the impact of e-scooter are done. Similar trends are also observed in other nations; Madrid have recently revoked the license of e-scooter sharing companies including Lime, Wind and Voi. Nonetheless, it is unlikely that the ban will affect Ninebot significantly due to the company’s diversification into other products as well as a surge in e-scooter demand from other countries.
