[6][7][8] ofo was launched in June 2015 in Beijing, gaining 20,000 users and 2,000 bicycles by October with investment funding from a Peking University alumnus.

[10][11] The company raised US$130 million in funding from tech firms Xiaomi and Didi Chuxing in September 2016, allowing it to expand outside China.

[12] A Series D funding round in February 2017, led by Didi Chuxing and Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies, raised US$450 million for ofo and valued the company at $1 billion.

[17] In April 2017, it was announced that the United Nations Development Programme has started a partnership to raise public awareness on climate changes.

[18][19] The partnership project, 1 KM Action, led to another collaboration with the Clara Lionel Foundation, an organisation founded by Rihanna, which aims to provide bikes and scholarships to girls in Malawi.

[22] In July 2017, ofo announced US$700 million of additional funding in a round led by Alibaba, Hony Capital and CITIC PE.

[29][30] After missing the opportunity to merge with Mobike and failing to reach an acquisition deal with Didi, ofo now suffered from consistently high operational costs and lack of additional funding to expand its business.

[35] In an internal meeting, ofo's CEO Dai Wei compared the company's situation to wartime Britain, as portrayed in the film Darkest Hour.

[36] In July 2018, ofo announced that it will entirely leave several countries and significantly reduce the number of cities served in others in order to focus on "priority" markets.

[55] It was reported in January 2019 that ofo had dissolved its international division and offered its 50 remaining employees the option to leave immediately or take a 50% pay cut and transfer to the Chinese business.

On January 14, 2019, Singapore's Land Transport Authority suspended ofo's operating license due to its failure to meet regulatory requirements such as implementation of QR code for parking of bike and decreasing its fleet size.