哈啰十年：后发者的「错位」生存论

This article provides a comprehensive review of Hello Inc.’s 10-year startup journey, key strategic pivots, and actual operational status, helping readers quickly understand the survival logic of this familiar yet often misunderstood company.

1. Core development facts: Founded in 2016, Hello broke through in the shared bike sector, leveraging Ant Group-backed deposit-free riding to become the sole independent survivor after Mobike and ofo exited the market. It later expanded beyond bike-sharing into shared e-bikes, ride-hailing (intercity carpooling), two-wheeler battery swapping, and car rental. It has posted consecutive profits since 2023, with annual revenue approaching 20 billion yuan. Several of its business units rank leading positions in their respective niches, and bike-sharing’s share of total revenue has gradually dropped to around 10%.

2. Pragmatic growth lessons: After setbacks including a failed foray into two-wheeler manufacturing and a postponed IPO, Hello abandoned the growth-at-all-costs playbook of chasing trends and burning cash for market share. It shifted to a pragmatic, disciplined approach: first solidifying existing operations to secure stable profitability, then making cautious, measured bets on long-term opportunities, rather than blindly copying one-size-fits-all success formulas.

3. Latest updates: Hello’s first co-developed custom Robotaxi with Dongfeng Nissan has entered mass production. The initial fleet will launch operations in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with plans to expand to at least 10 cities next year.

Hello’s 10-year path of differentiated competition, brand building experience, and user insights offer practical reference for brands seeking to navigate market cycles and achieve latecomer breakthroughs.

1. Differentiated brand strategy: As a latecomer, Hello avoided head-on, capital-intensive competition in segments dominated by established giants, and built competitive edges by targeting unmet user pain points. For example, it launched smarter shared bikes with better ride quality and lower maintenance costs; it disrupted the car rental market with door-to-door vehicle delivery; it carved out a leading position in intercity carpooling by addressing unmet market demand. This approach helped it avoid homogeneous price wars and claim leading spots across multiple segments: it now ranks first in intercity carpool market share, and its battery swapping business delivers higher profitability than its shared two-wheeler unit.

2. Consumer trend and demand capture: Hello has consistently expanded around core green mobility scenarios, covering full-journey travel needs from 3-kilometer short trips to long-distance intercity travel. It capitalized on the boom in on-demand delivery to build out its two-wheeler battery swapping network, and moved into Robotaxi as large language models (LLMs) pushed autonomous driving to a maturation inflection point, positioning itself ahead of future consumer scenarios.

3. Brand management insights: Brands must guard against public perception lagging behind business evolution, and adjust brand positioning in a timely manner. Hello’s shift from expansion-first to a pragmatic, profitability-first mindset offers a relevant case; brands also need to prioritize public opinion risk management, to prevent issues such as non-standard operations from eroding brand reputation.

Hello’s multi-business growth practices, trial-and-error lessons, and sector positioning can help sellers identify new opportunities, mitigate operational risks, and find sustainable survival strategies suited to their strengths.

1. High-priority growth opportunities: The two-wheeler battery swapping segment serving on-demand delivery is growing rapidly alongside the on-demand retail boom. In 2025, national on-demand delivery orders exceeded 60 billion for the first time, up 25% year-over-year, leaving substantial room for battery swapping services for delivery riders. Niche travel demand, including door-to-door car rental and intercity carpooling, also remains underserved. The commercial rollout of autonomous driving will further create a large number of new service opportunities.

2. Actionable operational takeaways: As a late entrant, there is no need to fight costly battles in red-ocean markets crowded by giants. Identifying unmet, niche user pain points and competing via differentiation is a viable path to segment leadership. Rather than burning cash for scale, prioritize profitability in existing operations to build a solid cash flow buffer before making moderate bets on long-term opportunities, to improve risk resilience.

3. Risks to avoid: Do not blindly enter sectors with overly long industrial chains where established incumbents hold dominant positions. For example, Hello once entered the two-wheeler EV manufacturing market to compete directly with entrenched leaders Yadea and Aima, but ultimately shut down its stores and factories due to the overly heavy operational burden and shifting market conditions – a lesson worth heeding.

Hello’s multi-business layout and supply chain partnership logic can help factories identify new business opportunities and adjust product design and production strategies accordingly.

1. Direct product cooperation demand: Hello is taking an asset-light approach to its Robotaxi business, and will not manufacture vehicles in-house. Vehicle production, asset ownership, and operational licensing will be handled by ecosystem partners. It has already partnered with Dongfeng Nissan Venucia to launch its first custom Robotaxi model, the HR1, which has entered mass production. Per its roadmap, the Robotaxi business will cover at least 10 cities next year; as deployment scales, demand for custom-built operational vehicles will continue to grow.

2. Supporting product market opportunities: Hello’s Xiaohuan battery swapping network operates over 100,000 swapping cabinets across more than 500 cities. Driven by the on-demand delivery sector’s 25% annual order growth, demand for swapping cabinets and swap-compatible two-wheeler EVs will rise steadily. There is also consistent B2B procurement demand for vehicle renewals and maintenance parts across Hello’s shared two-wheeler and car rental units.

3. Production and design insights: Factories can develop custom products tailored to the actual operational needs of mobility scenarios, rather than blindly chasing consumer-end brand marketing fads. Targeting stable orders from B2B operational scenarios offers a more reliable path to business growth.

Trends in the mobility sector where Hello operates, as well as pain points across its multi-business portfolio, offer clear guidance for service providers to identify service priorities and deploy targeted technology solutions.

1. Defined industry trends: The mobility sector has moved past its early, crude phase of burning cash for scale, and entered a mature, profitability-first stage. A single super traffic entry point is no longer the only path to growth; the prevailing direction is building multi-scenario mobility ecosystems covering short to long-distance trips, with each business unit delivering independent profitability. LLM-powered end-to-end autonomous driving is reaching an inflection point for commercial deployment, and the trillion-yuan Robotaxi market will generate massive demand for technology and operational support services.

2. Addressable client pain points: Hello has 800 million registered users across its shared bike, intercity carpool, battery swapping, car rental, and Robotaxi businesses, creating demand for services including intelligent dispatching, operations and maintenance (O&M) management, customer service, and public opinion & compliance management. Previously exposed issues such as non-standard grassroots O&M, third-party partners illegally modifying vehicle speed limits, and excessive vehicle deployment also create demand for supporting compliance management and staff training services.

3. Technology service opportunities: For its Robotaxi business, Hello is focusing on its strengths in operations and user services, leaving partnership opportunities for specialized service providers in areas including autonomous driving data training, intelligent dispatching systems, and vehicle-infrastructure integration support.

Hello’s experience building a multi-business platform, operational management practices, and risk mitigation lessons provide practical reference for platform operators to optimize management, reduce risk, and explore growth paths.

1. Viable platform growth pathways: Platforms do not need to rely on a single blockbuster business to scale. Instead, they can expand into adjacent vertical scenarios centered on core user needs, using differentiated competition to enter niche segments overlooked by larger rivals. For example, Hello built out adjacent segments including intercity carpool, battery swapping, and car rental around its core green mobility positioning. Each unit generates comparable revenue and independent profits, collectively supporting the platform’s nearly 20 billion yuan in annual revenue: it holds the top market share in intercity carpool, and its battery swapping business is more profitable than its legacy shared two-wheeler unit.

2. Core platform management principles: Once a platform reaches a certain scale, it should adjust its strategic pace in a timely manner, shifting from aggressive scale expansion to a pragmatic, disciplined approach that requires each business unit to prioritize profitability and secure stable cash flow to withstand unexpected risks. Platforms also need to strengthen grassroots compliance management, and promptly address negative incidents such as non-standard O&M, partner violations, and excessive vehicle deployment to avoid damaging platform reputation.

3. Ecosystem partnership strategy: When entering new sectors, platforms can adopt an asset-light collaborative model, partnering with industrial chain players and investors to co-invest and reduce risk. For its Robotaxi initiative, for example, Hello formed a 3 billion yuan joint venture with Ant Group and CATL, later bringing in Alibaba as an investor, while collaborating with automakers and technology teams. It outsources vehicle production and licensing to partners, and focuses on its core strengths in operations and dispatching to lower expansion costs and scale quickly.

Hello’s 10-year path of differentiated growth offers a new business case for internet industry research that deviates from traditional growth logics, and merits long-term tracking and study.

1. Notable business model innovation: Hello has broken the internet sector’s conventional path to viability of “super scenario + scale effect + continuous expansion.” Instead of relying on a single dominant, high-scale business, it has built leading positions across multiple niche segments centered on core green mobility scenarios, forming a “multiple chimney” business structure where each unit has comparable scale and independent profitability. Its consecutive profits since 2023 validate the feasibility of a non-super business portfolio supporting sustained corporate growth.

2. New industry development trends: Current venture capital logic has shifted from growth-at-all-costs burning cash to profitability first and financial security. Companies no longer single-mindedly pursue high-visibility, iconic super brands, and instead prioritize cash flow stability. LLMs are pushing autonomous driving into a new data-driven phase; maturing end-to-end solutions have opened entry windows for latecomers to the trillion-yuan Robotaxi market, and the trend of full-scenario coverage in the mobility sector is growing more pronounced.

3. Emerging enterprise development challenges: As startups enter their second decade, issues including top-down organizational culture alignment, grassroots compliance management, and public perception lagging behind actual business development will replace external market competition as core challenges. Enterprises’ framing of growth paths is also shifting from “obsessively searching for a second growth curve” to “relying on a portfolio of profitable businesses to support long-term growth.” These emerging issues merit ongoing in-depth research.