China’s Didi Chuxing raises $7 billion to fend off Uber

The funding round valued the company at more than $25 billion, WSJ reported.

The $2 billion leveraged loan could help the company get a step closer to a strong showing on Wall Street, but China’s Didi Chuxing is trying to give the ride-hailing company a run for its money.

The Apple Inc. and China Life Insurance investments, as well as the China Merchants Bank partnership have been previously made public. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government agency, Didi Chuxing now holds a 87.2 percent share of China’s private-car hailing market.

Including the new round Didi has raised at least $10.5 billion to date; previous investors include Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund, Softbank, Tamasek Holdings and GSR Ventures.

This marks the second round of financing after Didi and Kuaidi, once the two leaders in the ride-hailing sector, merged in early 2015 to stop cut-throat competition and combine resources.

“The number of Uber trips ordered by Chinese outbound travelers surged almost eight times in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago”, said Liu Zhen, senior vice-president for Uber China.

DiDi said it handles an average of 14 million rides through its platform on a daily basis. Didi is also an investor in and has partnered with three of Uber’s primary competitors in other parts of Asia and the U.S.: Lyft, Ola, and Grab.

Uber still remains the most valuable startup in the world, with a valuation of $62.5 billion. “Today we do more trips in China than the United States”, said Emil Michael, Uber’s chief business officer.