Yang Li
China’s ride-hailing service giant, Didi Kuaidi, is expanding its global investment network by announcing new investment in Indian ride-hailing app Ola, two weeks after it invested in American ride-hailing app Lyft.
The strategic partnership between Didi Kuaidi and Ola will allow both companies to share technology, product development, and local resources.
Though the investment details have not been disclosed, Didi Kuaidi’s investment will help Ola continue its expansion in India, where it claims 80% market share over traditional taxi, rickshaw and shuttle services. According to an official statement, the company completes more than 750,000 rides per day.
“Didi Kuaidi believes both India and China are rapidly developing countries, with enormous market potential,” Didi Kuaidi’s parent company said in a statement. “Didi Kuaidi looks to engage local industry champions like Ola to share technology and best practices in product development and operational expertise.”
US ride-hailing company, Uber, is competing with Didi Kuaidi inside of China. Internationally, it is investing significantly in Uber’s competitors in the USA and elsewhere.
Last September, Delhi banned Uber for failing to carry out adequate driver checks. Didi Kuaidi saw an opportunity to move ahead in India. Cooperation between the company and Ola will allow them to share customers between the two countries.
Didi Kuaidi also has its eyes set on Uber’s home territory. Two weeks ago, it invested USD 100 million in Uber’s primary rival, ride-hailing company, Lyft. In August, GrabTaxi, now headquartered in Singapore, said it had raised USD 350 million, including investment from Didi Chuxing.
Didi Kuaidi, came out as a merger in February between China’s two largest taxi-hailing apps: Didi Dache backed by Alibaba, and Kuaidi Dache backed by Tencent. The company claims to have captured over 80% of China’s ride-hailing service market and over 90% of China’s taxi-hailing service market.
In early September, the company completed a USD $3 billion funding round with involvement from China Investment Corp., Alibaba Group, Tencent Group, Capital International Private Equity Funds, and Ping An Ventures.
Besides the transportation industry, Didi Chuxing is looking for ways to branch out into the next wave of users and technologies, as evidenced by a recent partnership with LinkedIn to share data on rides and recruitment for new projects.