Bike graveyards around china serve as an omen for the startup industry

In recent years, several dockless-bike startups have popped up in Chinese cities. Often billed as "Uber for bikes," the companies allow users to unlock GPS-enabled bikes with their smartphones, and then park them anywhere when they're done.

But too many of these startups have launched, and there's not enough demand. As The Guardian notes, after three Chinese bike-share companies —Mobike, Ofo, and Bluegogo — went bankrupt in late 2017, many of the bikes were abandoned in lots in cities across China, including Beijing, Wuhan, and Xiamen.

These bike graveyards, pictured below, should serve as omens for Chinese cities that want to heavily invest in bikeshares:

See Also:

• What it's like to attend the TED talks, where attendees pay $10,000 to learn the next big ideas

• NASA's $1 billion Jupiter probe just sent back majestic new photos of the giant planet and its Great Red Spot

• I revisited my 23andMe results that can now tell whether you may have an increased risk of cancer — here's what it was like

SEE ALSO: Uber's app is about to offer public-transit tickets — here's how to use the service