June 28 (NBD) -- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in cycle-sharing platform Hellobike, tech news outlet 36Kr reported Thursday.

When approached by National Business Daily (NBD) Friday, Hellobike declined to comment. But a source with Alibaba's public relations unit said to NBD that the company is considering the plan but no further information is available at present. 

According to the 36Kr report, the planned investment by the tech behemoth is not only because of Hellobike's leading position in the bike-sharing industry, but due to its efforts to create an ecosystem for two-wheel mobility, of which the market size is several times that of the bicycle market, a source close to Alibaba said at the 2019 Luohan Academy Annual Digital Economy Conference. 

NBD previously reported that Hellobike, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, and Ant Financial Services would invest 1 billion yuan (144.5 million U.S. dollars) to establish a joint venture to offer battery swap services for electric bicycles. 

Data shows that there is a demand in China for 200 million bicycle rides daily, but the demand for electric bicycle rides is 700 million. The new joint venture plans to set up a network of storage units that will allow electric bicycle riders to pick up charged batteries on the go.

According to enterprise information provider Qixinbao, Alibaba's fintech affiliate Ant Financial is the biggest shareholder of Hellobike with a 35.94 percent stake. 

Hellobike has completed seven rounds of financing since its merger with another bike-sharing firm Youon Technology Co., Ltd. in October 2017. The latest round of funding, completed in December last year, was co-led by Ant Financial and Primavera Capital and around 4 billion yuan was secured.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn