China ride-hailing platform T3 gets $140m Series A extension

Hongtai Aplus announced that it had participated in the round, without naming any other investors. It added that T3 has already begun marketing a pre-IPO round and would file for a listing on completion of that investment. The proceeds of the Series A extension will be used to add users and capacity, incubate sustainability solutions, and conduct R&D into the commercial application of autonomous driving.

It comes 19 months after T3 closed a CNY 7.7bn Series A led by CITIC Investments. Other participants included Redview Capital and Virtue Capital as well as strategic investors such as FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor, Changan Auto, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings, Yingtong Technology and LY.com, an online travel agency under Tongcheng-Elong.

Last month, Ruqi Mobility, a ride-hailing platform incubated by state-backed automaker GAC Group, raised CNY 842m in Series B funding led by Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group. Around the time of T3’s Series A, Caocao Chuxing – a ride-hailing platform under automaker Geely, secured CNY 3.8bn in Series B funding from five state-backed investors in 2021.

The bumper funding rounds followed the launch of an investigation into Didi regarding the violation of rules on the collection of personal data in the wake of its USD 4.4bn IPO in the US. For a while, new user registrations and app downloads were halted, creating an opening for rival platforms. Didi was subsequently delisted.

T3 was established in 2019, with Hongtai claiming that the business was initiated by FAW, Dongfeng, Changan, Alibaba, and Tencent. All five participated in an angel funding round.

The company is now active in more than 120 cities with daily orders exceeding 3m, according to a statement. It has over 200m registered users and has facilitated 1.4bn rides to date. At the time of the Series A, the network comprised 41 cities and 54m registered users, with daily orders of around 2m.

T3 claims to be the youngest mainstream ride-hailing platform yet it already ranks second to Didi by market share. By the end of 2026, it wants to be in 200 cities and have daily peak orders of 10m and revenue of CNY 50bn. Moreover, it plans to have 1,000 level-four autonomous vehicles – where the car is fully autonomous in certain environments but still needs a driver in the seat – in commercial operation.

More broadly, the company wants to leverage its large-scale ride-hailing business to build a travel ecosystem underpinned by new energy, intelligence, and compliance. Services will include one-stop charging services and repair and maintenance services.

“The travel market is vast, and it is expected to maintain rapid growth in the post-pandemic era, and safety compliance has become a trend. T3 is characterised by safety and compliance,” said Kaikai Yue, an investment director at Hongtai.

Hongtai was founded in 2014 by Minhong Yu, a local entrepreneur, and Xitai Sheng, formerly chairman of Huatai United Securities. The firm has CNY 30bn in assets under management and invests in information technology, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, consumer, education, and new materials.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• TMT
• Transportation
• Hongtai Aplus