I have never ever expect this to happen. Ninebot, a Chinese company, has acquired Segway, an American company. If you are following Ninebot closely, you will know that Ninebot is a company that makes PEVs. Among of all other products, Ninebot One is my favorite.
Hopefully, with this acquisition, Ninebot can produce even better products. BTW, that is not all. Check out in the news release who the investors are. One of them is Xiaomi. So, I am expecting the Ninebot mobile app will be even better.
Seems like Chinese companies like to buy up companies to improve their image or to enhance the quality of their products. Here is the News Release.
Press Release
Strategic Alliance between Ninebot and Segway
BEIJING, CHINA – April 15, 2015 – Ninebot Inc., a leading company in China’s intelligent short-distance transportation sector, announced a strategic alliance with Segway, the world’s leading personal electric transportation provider. Under the terms of the agreement, Segway will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ninebot, and the two companies will continue to serve the market through their respective brands and products. Ninebot also announced that the company has raised $80 million in Series A financing from leading investors including Xiaomi Technology, Sequoia Capital and Shunwei Foundation, among others. The announcements were made at a press conference held at the Beijing JW Marriott Hotel with the attendance of 500 special guests.
Gao Lufeng, Ninebot founder and CEO said, “This strategic alliance is a milestone for Ninebot and Segway. After establishing the alliance, the company will widely apply a series of technologies into its future products, covering electric driving, mobile internet and man-machine interaction. This combination creates great opportunities for the development of the short-distance transportation industry. We believe that this alliance will promote the short-distance transportation industry to develop and grow on the intelligent mobile robot platform. The alliance of our well-known brands will provide more convenient and environmentally-friendly travelling solutions for customers.”
After the strategic alliance, both companies will closely collaborate in technology and marketing areas, to enhance R&D, manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities. Segway President Rod Keller said, “In the past few years, intelligent hardware has rapidly developed in our increasingly connected world. The strategic alliance with Ninebot will enable us to provide more intelligent and valuable products for our customers. We are fully confident about our future.”
About Ninebot
As a private company registered in the Cayman Islands, Ninebot, headquartered in Beijing, is dedicated to R&D, manufacturing and sales of short-distance transportation products. Its major investors include Xiaomi Technology, Sequoia Capital, Shunwei Foundation and WestSummit Capital. Now, Ninebot is a leading company in short-distance transportation in both Asia and Europe. For more info about Ninebot, please visit www.ninebot.com.
About Segway
Headquartered in Bedford, New Hampshire, USA, Segway is a world’s leading personal electric transportation equipment supplier with an international network of over 250 distributers and multiple product experience centers across more than 80 countries. For more info about Segway, please visit www.segway.com.
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