Didi Kuaidi, CIC join $350m round for Southeast Asia’s GrabTaxi

US-based Coatue Management and other existing investors also took part in the latest round, which brings GrabTaxi's total funding to approximately $700 million, including a previous $250 million investment from Japanese tech giant SoftBank Corp. in December. Tiger Global Management led a Series C round in October last year, while GGV Capital led a $25 million Series B round. Vertex Venture, an investment unit of Temasek Holdings, led the Series A round in last April.

GrabTaxi said it will use the new funds to expand its two new businesses: motorcycle taxi-booking service GrabBike and private hire service GrabCar. GrabCar service is available in all countries where GrabTaxi is operating, while GrabBike is currently in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

"Diversifying into private cars and motorbikes has allowed us to touch people of varying income levels and commuting needs," Anthony Tan, CEO of the company, said in a statement. "We are the only app in the region that has such an extensive network and range of transportation choices."

GrabTaxi - known in Malaysian as MyTesi - was set up in Malaysia in 2012 by Anthony Tan and Hooi Ling Tan. Through an app, users can book taxis operated by any provider, identifying which cars are nearest and which are most reliable. These assessments are based on variables such as distance, amount of traffic and consumer feedback. Its taxi-booking platforms - which have more than 110,000 drivers - now cover 26 cities across six countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Didi Kuaidi - which formed out of a merger between Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache in February - raised a record $2 billion round last month. At that time, the company said it was looking to raise a few hundred million dollars more from new investors before the final closing in the coming months, with CIC reportedly having invested in the firm.

Didi Kuaidi's services span taxi-hailing, private car service, designated driving and bus services. It now operates in 360 Chinese cities, and has three million taxi rides and three million private car rides on average every day.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Venture
• Expansion
• Southeast Asia
• China
• Transportation
• Growth capital
• Venture
• CIC
• TMT
• Southeast Asia