Youon Technology Co., Ltd. will form a joint venture with United Kingdom operator Cycle.Land to roll out 1,000 new dockless bicycles in London in March, the enterprises announced on Monday.

The companies have signed a strategic partnership and will soon establish a UK-based joint venture company. Youon will provide the bicycles and Cycle.Land will operate and maintain the new project.

Changzhou-based Youon has 42.5 million registered users and runs both dockless and docked bike-sharing platforms in 220 Chinese cities.

In October 2017, Youon acquired China's third-largest dockless operator Hellobike. In December, Alibaba-owned Ant Financial became the largest stakeholder in the company, when it increased its ownership to 32 percent with an investment of 2 billion yuan.

Unlike domestic rivals Ofo and Mobike, which control all aspects of their international platforms, Youon has chosen to enter foreign markets via partnerships with local companies.

The joint venture with Cycle.Land means Youon now operates in four international territories, following similar cooperation agreements with transport companies in Russia, India and Malaysia.

Cycle.Land is a peer-to-peer bike-lending service that was founded in 2016 by University of Oxford graduates. The company runs an online marketplace where users rent out and hire bicycles from each other. Cycle.Land also provides management services for bike-sharing operators.

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