The Costa Rican investment firm that owns oBike has bought around 8,600 brand new bicycles belonging to failed Beijing-based bicycle sharing company Ofo in a US$430,000 deal, reports Straitstimes.com.
OSS Inversiones will ship the two-wheelers over to Costa Rica, where it will offer them for sharing under a new wide-ranging mobile application.
But even as the firm moves ahead with its other plans, the negotiations with oBike’s liquidators to resolve the firm’s liabilities remain at an impasse.
Samuel Chaves, one of the directors at OSS, said that the bikes were bought this month from a warehouse which was holding them.
“The ofo bikes were being sold at a reasonable price and there were also brand new spare parts included. We will need about 40,000 mechanical bikes and 15,000 electric bikes to run our operations in Costa Rica, so these bikes will support our fleet there,” said Chaves.
The bikes will be refurbished for use through the 0mn1 app that will be launched in Costa Rica starting in September. Designed to be a “super app” with various uses, 0mn1 will allow users to rent the bikes, book taxis and pay for fares on public transport, and perform other functions.
OSS is launching the app through its Singapore-registered company Omni Sharing.
