China's leading ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing announced it has raised 5.5 billion US dollars in a new financing agreement on Friday, further supporting its globalization strategy to advance and invest in cutting-edge technology.
Didi, founded in 2012, controls nearly 90 percent of China's ride-hailing market after buying California-based Uber's assets in China last year.
China legalized ride-hailing services in July and is now the world's largest car-hailing market, fueled by hundreds of millions of mobile-savvy Chinese millennials.
CFP Photo
On its official Weibo account, Didi announced the news and said it hopes to become a leader in smart transportation. Hoping to push for active reform in the automobile industry, it plans to further globalize and bring efforts in the international transportation industry.
Didi says it is capable of making a systematic breakthrough in intelligent driving and smart transportation, based on its development of Artificial Intelligence technology.
CFP Photo
The funding round makes Didi the most valuable startup in Asia, with a value of more than 50 billion US dollars, an amount that also makes it number two in the world after Uber's 68 billion US dollar valuation, according to rankings by The Wall Street Journal.
Didi completes 20 million rides daily, and has sought to expand overseas with an investment into Southeast Asian taxi-booking app Grab last year, following closely on the heels of a tie-up with Uber's US rival Lyft.
Didi has operations in over 400 Chinese cities, and lists among its investors Apple and Chinese Internet titans Alibaba and Tencent.
