China’s top taxi-hailing app Didi Kuaidi (滴滴快的) yesterday announced it raised US$2 billion in two weeks, after reports said US rival Uber Technologies Inc planned to invest US$1.1 billion in the country this year.
Didi Kuaidi, which is backed by technology giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and calls itself the world’s largest one-stop mobile-based transportation network, said its fund-raising attracted “tremendous interest” from global investors.
It is looking to raise “a further few hundred million dollars” from new investors in the coming month, it added.
“The fact that global investors are eager to participate in this fund-raising round shows their confidence in the development of our company,” CEO and chairman Cheng Wei (程維) said in a statement.
The popularity of private car booking enterprises such as Didi Kuaidi and San Francisco-based Uber has soared in China, where traditional taxis are criticized for poor service with rude drivers who routinely ignore customers on the street.
For now, the Chinese firm dominates the market, but the two are locked in a fierce battle for customers, offering both riders and drivers subsidies and discounts that are costing the companies vast sums.
Uber, which launched operations in China last year, said in a message to investors last month that it planned to invest 7 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in China, the Financial Times reported previously.
Uber riders were making almost 1 million trips per day, with business doubling in the previous month, CEO Travis Kalanick said, adding that the company plans to add 50 cities from the current 11 into its operational network.
However, Cheng was confident that the Didi Kuaidi’s “clear competitive advantages” built “through its integrated platform, technology and team” would see it win out.
“Didi Kuaidi is in a far better position to benefit from this tremendous opportunity than any other player in the mobile transportation industry in the world,” he said.
Didi Kuaidi plans to use the capital raised to strengthen its market position, develop new services, improve technology and data research and enhance the user experience, the statement said.
Didi Kuaidi’s private car services fulfill 3 million rides daily and data from research firm Analysys International showed it commands 80 percent of the market, the statement said.
For taxi-hailing, the company holds 99 percent of the market, also with 3 million daily trips, it said.
The company aims to serve more than 30 million passengers and 10 million drivers per day in three years’ time and ensure every passenger gets a ride within three minutes of request anywhere in China, it added.
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