Uber gains $1.2B for its China expansion

Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, has just confirmed the online-hailing taxi firm’s latest raised funding of $1.2B for the company’s plan of expansion in China. The news was first disclosed in the Chinese-language website, Sina. Search giant Baidu, which has previously invested in Uber, led the latest fund raising for the latter’s expansion plan.

Uber China is projected to be valued at $8B, as repoted by TechCrunch. As of now, the company already operates in 11 cities of the Asian country, with a target of an increase to 50 by this year. In a letter acquired by Financial Times, Kalanick stated about the impending success that the Chinese commuters as a market is manifesting.

“This kind of growth is remarkable and unprecedented. To put it frankly, China represents one of the largest untapped opportunities for Uber, potentially larger than the US,” Kalanick stated as quoted by Financial Times.

However, Didi Kuaidi, Uber’s biggest competitor in the country, also confirmed a few hours back that it has raised $3B on its latest funding round. Its previous investors include Alibaba, Softbank, Tencent, China Investment Corp and Beijing Automotive.

Rumour has it that Uber was blocked by WeChat, the giant messaging app in China, because of taxi market rivalry. But WeChat claimed that it was because of plain rule violation, as reported by Bloomberg. The country’s famous messaging app is owned by TenCent, an investor in Didi Kuaidi.

The two companies are spending heavily to finance rides and gain market share, gambling on China's Internet-linked transport market becoming the world's most colossal and lucrative. Uber will enter 100 more Chinese cities over the next year, doubling a previous goal set just three months ago, CEO Travis Kalanick said on Tuesday, in an event held by Uber investor Baidu in Beijing.

What Does Uber Plan To Do Next? (Credit: YouTube/FT Business)

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