Didi Kuaidi ups ante in China with $3-billion funding round
Uber may have deep pockets, but its largest rival in China is proving two can play at that game.
Didi Kuaidi, the largest on-demand transportation service in China, announced Wednesday it raised $3 billion in its latest funding round, $1 billion more than its initial target.
The financing was led by new investors China Investment Corp., Capital International Private Equity Fund, and Ping An Ventures, among others. Existing investors include Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.
With the latest round of funding, the company said it will have $4 billion in cash reserves.
The funding round could spell trouble for Uber, which, despite committing $1 billion to growing its business in China, still only commands a fraction of Didi Kuaidi’s market share.
According to research firm Analysys International, Didi Kuaidi commands at least 80% of the private car transportation service market, and its services have already expanded across hundreds of cities in China.
The company appears to be getting ahead of Uber in China at every turn, launching a car-pooling service and a chauffeur service this year, as well as a bus service that uses routes created and optimized by big data.
Another advantage Didi Kuaidi has over the San Francisco ride-hailing company: It only focuses on China, whereas Uber has pursued an aggressive global expansion, which has left it fighting regulation and lawsuits around the world.
Didi Kuaidi’s chairman and chief executive Chen Wei said in a prepared statement that the new group of investors is “a vote of confidence in Didi Kuaidi’s leadership in China and our ability to further cement our foothold in the local market.”
Twitter: @traceylien
