Segway Inc, the developer of two-wheeled, electric-powered people movers, was acquired by China-based competitor Ninebot Inc (納恩博).
After allying with Segway, Ninebot will use electric driving, mobile Internet and person-machine interaction technologies for future products, Ninebot chief executive officer Gao Lufeng (高祿峰) yesterday said at a news conference in Beijing.
The companies did not disclose terms of the April 1 transaction.
Photo courtesy of Xiaomi Corp
The announcement came after Beijing-based smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp (小米), which owns part of Ninebot, joined in an US$80 million funding round for Ninebot that included Sequoia Capital (紅杉資本) and the Shunwei Foundation (順為資本).
Ninebot began two years ago as a crowd-funded project and its products are now available in more than 38 nations, with production facilities in China, according to its Web site.
“Ninebot is a fast-growing, short-distance transportation company backed by well-known investors,” Segway president Rod Keller said in a video message shown at the news conference. “The combination of Ninebot and Segway will bring together industry-leading research, development, engineering and manufacturing.”
Keller said Segway holds more than 400 patents related to the devices.
Gao said the purchase included all of Segway’s assets.
Inventor Dean Kamen introduced the Segway in 2001 and began selling it to the public in 2002 with hopes of revolutionizing urban transport. He sold the company, which was later bought by Summit Strategic Investments LLC in 2013, according to Bedford, New Hampshire-based Segway’s Web site.
Segway’s products are used by the police and tour groups, while sales to individual consumers have been hampered by a high price tag and restrictions by cities on where the devices can be driven.
The US International Trade Commission in November last year agreed to investigate a claim by Segway that Ninebot and several other Chinese companies infringed on its patents. Segway had been seeking to block imports of the transporters in an investigation that would probably have taken 15 to 18 months, according to a commission statement in November.
The China-based company also makes a single-wheeled device called the Ninebot One. In the US, the Ninebot sells for US$3,199, while the Ninebot One can be purchased for US$850.
Xiaomi, China’s largest smartphone maker, is expanding into Web-enabled smart home devices and consumer electronics by taking stakes in other startups.
The company has backed 27 such companies under plans to invest in as many as 100, Xiaomi chief executive officer Lei Jun (雷軍) has said.
Xiaomi holds a controlling stake in Ninebot, Lei said yesterday.
He declined to comment on the size of the stake, or how much Ninebot paid for Segway.
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