Car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi challenges Uber in China
China's dominant car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi told shareholders it had three times the number of daily private car trips than Uber Technologies Inc. just weeks after its U.S. rival boasted of similar successes in a letter to investors.
Didi Kuaidi, which controls 80 percent of China's private car hailing market and whose parent company is Xiaoju Kuaizhi, has started to raise at least $1.5 billion (9.2 billion yuan) from investors, the company said in a letter to shareholders Friday.
The fundraising tally could rise to $2 billion due to strong demand, in a deal that values the company at $15 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
That valuation is lower than the stock market's $40 billion valuation for Uber. In a June 12 letter to shareholders, Uber said it plans to invest more than $1 billion to rev up growth in China.
"In overall rides, we now have 10 times the volume of our closest competitor in China and at least 3 times its global volume," Didi Kuaidi said in its letter to shareholders, which was obtained by Reuters. "With advantages in scale and operational efficiency, we can provide more ride orders to drivers than competitors."
Didi Kuaidi is backed by China's two largest Internet companies, Alibaba Group Holdings and Tencent Holdings. Uber is backed by their smaller rival, Baidu Inc.
Didi Kuaidi said it has three million private car requests a day. Uber, which focuses on private car use, said in its letter to shareholders that it was completing one million trips per day.
Didi Kuaidi expects the annualized amount of money spent on its platforms to be $12 billion by the end of the year, and aims to serve 30 million passengers and 10 million drivers a day within three years, the letter said.
Local government officials have raided the offices of both Didi Kuaidi and Uber and also have cracked down on unlicensed drivers who use their private cars via the apps. Didi Kuaidi and Uber both have pledged to work with the government to resolve their problems.
The fundraising tally could rise to $2 billion due to strong demand, in a deal that values the company at $15 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
That valuation is lower than the stock market's $40 billion valuation for Uber. In a June 12 letter to shareholders, Uber said it plans to invest more than $1 billion to rev up growth in China.
"In overall rides, we now have 10 times the volume of our closest competitor in China and at least 3 times its global volume," Didi Kuaidi said in its letter to shareholders, which was obtained by Reuters. "With advantages in scale and operational efficiency, we can provide more ride orders to drivers than competitors."
Didi Kuaidi is backed by China's two largest Internet companies, Alibaba Group Holdings and Tencent Holdings. Uber is backed by their smaller rival, Baidu Inc.
Didi Kuaidi said it has three million private car requests a day. Uber, which focuses on private car use, said in its letter to shareholders that it was completing one million trips per day.
Didi Kuaidi expects the annualized amount of money spent on its platforms to be $12 billion by the end of the year, and aims to serve 30 million passengers and 10 million drivers a day within three years, the letter said.
Local government officials have raided the offices of both Didi Kuaidi and Uber and also have cracked down on unlicensed drivers who use their private cars via the apps. Didi Kuaidi and Uber both have pledged to work with the government to resolve their problems.
