The founder of Chinese ride-hailing service now eyes e-logistics business nationwide

While senior executives of Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing were celebrating a US$1 billion capital injection from technology giant Apple into the company on May 13, one man, who co-founded the original business, was reading the news with mixed feelings.

“Four years ago when Kuaidi was preparing for launch, we faced a lot of questions from people. That kept me awake for many nights. Now, almost every query has been answered. However, things came and went so rapidly it seems that it all happened ages ago,” said Chen Weixing in a WeChat posting on the day of the news.

Chen was the founder of Kuaidi Dache, a ride-hailing service company in China that merged with rival Didi Dache in February last year and eventually became Didi Chuxing. But Chen lost his position in the reorganised entity, and he left after the merger.

“When we developed the Kuaidi app, we were questioned by many people. My friends teased me and the core team members of my company gradually left me ... I am pleased as the [Apple] news vindicates the business model of ride-hailing services in China,” Chen said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.