Didi Kuaidi To Invest In Ola To Take On Their Common Rival Uber

Didi Kuaidi To Invest In Ola To Take On Their Common Rival Uber

SUMMARY

Didi May Be Setting Up A Global Alliance Against Uber

The taxi hailing and aggregation space is quickly turning into a hot zone as the war between Uber and Ola extends Indian borders. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is an ancient idea that Alibaba-backed Didi Kuaidi might be putting to test.

According to a TOI report, it may invest in homegrown Ola and provide it with the arsenal to take down its cash-rich rival Uber.

Didi seems to be creating a global alliance against Uber, as this investment move comes after it acquired stakes in San Francisco-based Lyft and Malaysia’s GrabTaxi.

TOI sources who are close to the development revealed that Ola is finalising the second tranche of $200 Mn of its $500 Mn financing round led by GIC – Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Didi Kuaidi and Baillie Gifford – a Scottish investment firm which is a shareholder in Flipkart. This will put the valuation of Ola at $5 Bn.

Earlier this week, Ola had raised $225 Mn as part of the $500 Mn round, in a round led by existing investor Falcon Edge Capital. Tiger Global Management LLC, Softbank and six other investors also participated in this round.

After investing a small amount in Ola during its $400 Mn fundraising round, GIC is expected to pump-in $100 Mn this time. Didi may invest around $30 Mn and Yuri Milner’s DST Global may participate in this round.

Travis Kalanick-led Uber is holding the fort down quite well as it plans to raise $1 Bn India-centric funds, just like it raised $1.2 Bn for China recently. Uber is the most-valued tech company in the world; with a valuation of $51 Bn. It recently broke Facebook’s record to become the youngest privately-held company to cross the $50 Bn valuation mark.

Didi Kuaidi is China’s largest taxi aggregator app and is presently valued at $16 Bn. This transportation behemoth was created when Didi Dache, China’s largest taxi hailing app backed by internet giant Tencent Holdings and its competitor Kuaidi Dache – backed by major players like Alibaba, SoftBank and Tiger Global – joined forces. It has become the biggest competitor of Uber and is powered by $4.4 Bn in investor money.

 

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