Uber China raises new funds at $7b valuation

Participants in the round include several local firms, such as airline operator HNA Group, car maker Guangzhou Automobiles, and China Life Insurance, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said at an event in Beijing. The company is currently raising another round, and says the $7 billion valuation does not include those funds.

Uber China raised $1.2 billion last year from investors including search giant Baidu, which has also contributed to the global company. At the time Uber said it planned to spend more than $1 billion in 2015 on expansion in China; recently the GM of Uber Hong Kong said China could become a bigger market than the US for the company in 2016.

Uber's expansion in China has been challenged by Didi Kuaidi, the local ride-hailing app developer formed from the merger of rivals Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache in 2015. Last year the company completed a $3 billion funding round, the largest ever by a private internet start-up, with participation from the likes of China Investment Corporation, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Temasek Holdings.

Didi Kuaidi claims to have 87.2% of the ride-hailing market in China. It recently committed $100 million to Uber's US rival Lyft and entered a partnership to allow each company to use the other's services.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• Consumer
• TMT
• Technology
• Growth capital