Baidu continues push into ride-sharing with investments in Tiantian and 51 Yongche
Search giant Baidu has continued its high-speed expansion into China's ride-sharing market, with two key investments in budding startups as it tries to catch up with powerful rivals backed by Alibaba and Tencent.
Search giant Baidu has continued its high-speed expansion into China's ride-sharing market, with two key investments in budding startups as it tries to catch up with powerful rivals backed by Alibaba and Tencent.
In the past week, the company has announced investments in carpooling and ride-sharing apps Tiantian Yongche and 51 Yongche, hoping to threaten market-leading Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache.
Ride-sharing apps let users heading in the same direction share a vehicle for a set fee. Such services are promoted as a way to better utilize the empty seats in most passenger cars, thus lowering fuel usage and transport costs. They are a popular alternative to taxi-hailing apps, such as Did and Kuaidi, which let users book taxis or private cars on their mobile devices.
Early stage venture capital fund Innovation Works also took part in the round, according to news portal QQ Tech, which said Tiantian Yongche’s valuation was close to US$200 million, without specifying where it got the information.
The funding would help the company, which focuses on taking people to and from work, build a stronger team and expand the app into more cities, so that users would “not only use the app where they live, but also on business trips or during travels”, the bank said in a statement.
On Friday, 51 Yongche said it had raised “tens of millions” of US dollars in a funding round which also included Sequoia.