Dai Wei, founder of Chinese bike-sharing company ofo, has called for "respect for entrepreneurship," rebuffing calls by some investors for a merger with competitor Mobike.
Capital could drive the fast growth of start-ups, but investors should also fully take the determination of start-ups into account, Dai said during a conference on Monday, according media reports.
"Competition will propel the development of a company, and I believe cooperation will prevail in the bike-sharing sector," he said.
Some investors have publicly called for a merger between ofo and Mobike. Zhu Xiaohu, president at GSR Venture, said in September that the two companies could only become profitable if they merged.