China's most popular ride-hailing application Didi Chuxing said yesterday that it netted $4.5 billion in fundraising in its latest financing round to help it fight both foreign and domestic rivals.
The investors included Internet giants, state-owned enterprises and private firms such as Apple, China Life and Ant Financial, together with existing investors Tencent, Alibaba, China Merchants Bank and SoftBank.
The proceeds will be used to upgrade technology, Big Data research and operations to improve rider and driver experience, as well as exploring new businesses and opportunities.
"Didi is prepared to continue this momentum of growth with advantages in technology and platform synergies," founder and Chief Executive Officer Cheng Wei said in a statement.
This marked the second financing round after Didi and Kuaidi, the two former leaders in the ride-hailing sector in China, merged to form Didi Chuxing in early 2015.
Didi Chuxing raised over US$3 billion in a previous fundraising exercise in September.
Didi said it handles an average of 14 million rides through its platform daily, serving close to 300 million users in more than 400 Chinese cities.
