The Chinese ride hailing firm, Didi Chuxing, has successfully raised $4 billion in a recent round of funding for a wide range of enterprises including worldwide expansion and new business initiatives. The firm, which is seen as China’s rival to Uber, stated that a number of Chinese and International institutions participated in the latest fundraising round; however they declined from disclosing the names of the participants. However, in an email to CNBC, Softbank of Japan did state that they participated in the fund raise, but they declined to quote a number. As per reports, the Abu Dhabi state fund, Mubadala Capital, also participated in the funding round.
“Didi plans to scale up investments in AI talent and technologies , to further up its intelligent driving and smart transportation capabilities , and to bring more innovative and diversified transportation services to broader communities around the world” the company stated in a statement. “We will also embark on initiatives in building new energy vehicle service networks, as a part of the company’s efforts to lead the transformation of automobile and transportation industries and work towards global energy interconnection,” added the company.
So far, Didi Chuxing has raised approximately $13 billion from well known backers including Softbank, Alibaba, Tencent and Apple. This figure includes the record $5.5 billion raised in April this year. The latest investment values the company at over $50 billion. Earlier this year, Didi announced its plans to launch in Mexico in 2018. This move will mark the company’s first step to move beyond China. In addition to this, on Tuesday, Didi has stated that it is looking to bring its services to Taiwan as well.
Didi’s global push is a threat to Uber. The company, in 2016, managed to muscle Uber out of China, where the latter was suffering losses in excess of $ 1 billion. In addition to this, Didi has also been investing Uber’s rivals worldwide including US-based Lyft, Brazil-based 99, and Singapore-based
Grab.
(Picture courtesy: Yicai Global)