Dear Uber, That Record Funding Means Didi Is Coming for You
The world’s two most-valuable startups are ride-hailing companies with a sleek vision of a driverless future they would own.
The Didi Chuxing app.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing just raised more than $5.5 billion, giving Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick one more thing to worry about.
Didi’s record funding round is said to value the company at more than $50 billion and gives it a war chest to ramp up efforts to harness artificial intelligence, build driverless cars, and compete more aggressively in foreign markets. The cash infusion coincides with a rough period for Uber, which is facing lawsuits and an image problem, and follows a detente in China after Uber agreed to essentially cede the market to Didi in exchange for a significant stake.