Ping An VC, Qiming invest $30m in China car-sharing platform
Ping An Ventures, a VC arm of insurer Ping An Group, and Qiming Venture Partners have co-led a $30 million Series A round of funding for Baojia.com, a Chinese peer-to-peer (P2P) car-sharing platform.
58.com, a Chinese online classifieds marketplace, also participated. According to news site Tencent Tech, Baojia.com previously raised $5 million in angel funding from founders and CEOs of 58.com and Chinese car-themed online forum Xcar.com.
The company operates under a fleet-free business model, which means it doesn't own any vehicles. It provides a platform for car owners to register for rental services, while drivers can use mobile technology to search for available cars in the vicinity. Baojia claims it can undercut traditional car rental costs by 30%. There are more than 30,000 cars registered on the platform.
Rubin Li, Baojia's founder, said the company expects to fully leverage 58.com and Ping An Group's resources to launch car-sharing insurance products, as well as expand its customer base.
Baijia's competitor uuzuche raised a $10 million Series A round led by Lightspeed China Partners in September, with participation from China Renaissance K2 Ventures and angel investor Wang Gang.
A few months ago, Qiming provided a $10 million Series A round for Zuzuche.com, a Chinese third-party car rental platform. The sites offers price information and online booking services with various overseas and domestic operators.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.