(Yicai Global) Nov. 10 -- Chinese bike-sharing platform’s Hello Chuxing, which this summer pulled a plan to go public in the United States, has completed a USD280 million financing round, its second this year, and brought onboard e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding as an investor.

Alibaba and its fintech associate Ant Group led the latest fundraiser, Shanghai-based Hello Chuxing said in a statement yesterday, without disclosing any further details. It raised USD234 million in March, in a funding round spearheaded by battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology.

The company has completed 16 fundraisers in its five-year history, attracting such names as GGV Capital, Chengwei Capital, Fosun International, Primavera Capital, and Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund. It has closed four rounds of equity financing in the past two years.

The proceeds of this round may be used to speed up diversification of the platform’s business, reducing its dependence on bike-sharing. CNY5.5 billion (USD860.5 million) of Hello Chuxing’s CNY6 billion revenue came from that business last year, according to the firm’s listing prospectus, compared with all of its CNY2.1 billion income coming from bike-sharing in 2018.

“Bike-sharing should only account for 10 percent of Hello Chuxing’s business,” Chief Executive Yang Lei has said.

Hello Chuxing, operated by Shanghai Junzheng Network Technology, started from bike-sharing and gradually grew into a diversified travel-related and lifestyle services provider. From the platform, it is now possible to call taxis and book hotel rooms and train tickets.

The company submitted an application for an initial public offering in the United States in April, but withdrew it in July in the wake of Chinese regulatory changes.

This year, the firm also started developing an electric bicycle business. It bought all of Wuxi Xunyi Electric Vehicle at the start of 2021 and announced in July to have invested in the construction of a super-factory for e-bikes in Tianjin. Hello Chuxing has launched three smart electric bicycle models so far.

Editors: Xu Wei, Futura Costaglione