bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Meng Jing

Zen Soo

Didi Chuxing, the Chinese equivalent of Uber, has closed a US$5.5 billion funding round.
China’s largest ride-sharing company didn’t reveal the identities of its backers but said the proceeds would be used to fund “its global strategy and artificial intelligence-based technologies”.
People familiar with the matter said the new round is likely to give the car hailing site a valuation of over US$50 billion, making it the world’s most valuable start-up, after Uber.
Softbank, Silver Lake, China Merchants Bank and an arm of Bank of Communications are believed to be among the investors behind the latest injection of funds.
Founded in 2012, Didi’s more than 100 existing investors include Apple, Tiger Global Management, and internet giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding, which is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
Didi Chuxing plans to use this one advantage to crush its rivals in race for self-driving cars
“With this new investment, Didi will continue to work with communities and partners around the world to provide more innovative mobility services, and expand smart urban transportation programmes as part of its efforts to build an efficient and sustainable global mobility ecosystem,” according to an emailed statement.
After driving Uber out of the Chinese market in August 2016, the company is now looking to expand internationally and transform automotive industries around the world by leveraging the transportation data gathered from its 400 million users across 400 Chinese cities.
Didi Chuxing launches Silicon Valley research institute in bid to attract leading tech talent
In so doing, it is putting itself in a strong position to compete head-on with Uber and Google’s autonomous car project, Alphabet, both of which are pouring millions into the technology, powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Zhang Wensong, senior vice president of Beijing-based Didi, claimed in a previous interview that it was “the best platform to commercialise self-driving cars, because we have a lot of data generated by a huge number of ride-hailing users”.
“Our platform can provide 20 million trips per day, which is much more than Uber provides.”
Earlier this year, Didi launched a laboratory in Mountain View in California, close to an Apple research facility, in an effort to attract the best talent in AI.


China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing raises US$5.5 billion

A woman walks past Didi Chuxing's stall at the Global Mobile Internet Conference 2017 in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Tech

New funding round likely to give site a valuation of over US$50 billion, making it the world’s most valuable start-up, after Uber


China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing raises US$5.5 billion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}New funding round likely to give site a valuation of over US$50 billion, making it the world’s most valuable start-up, after Uber

New funding round likely to give site a valuation of over US$50 billion, making it the world’s most valuable start-up, after Uber