Didi Chuxing, a China-based ride-hailing online company has secured funds amounting to $500 million from a US-based travel company known as Booking Holdings.
The basic aim of this funding round is to bolster the company’s plans to make an entry into the fresh markets outside of China. Both the companies announced the investment in a joint statement, however, its details were undisclosed.
After this funding round, the valuation of the company has reached $56 billion. Didi Chuxing is also expected to go public and launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future.
The deal will witness Booking work in association with Didi to offer its on-demand car services through its Booking.com apps. In the same way, Didi customers will have the option to book hotels through Booking.com and its sister site Agoda. The company also stated that Didi users will also have access to Booking Holdings’ services through Didi.
“Building on its leadership and expertise in the global online travel market, Booking is championing a digital revolution of travel experience. We look forward to seamlessly connecting every segment of the journey and improving everyone’s traveling experience through more collaborative innovation with the Booking brands on the product, technology, and market development,” said Stephen Zhu, VP of strategy for Didi Chuxing.
The company has lately entered the markets of Mexico, Australia and Japan and with the latest funding, it seems to expand even more. The company’s objective seems to be fighting a competition with Uber and thus, it has also invested in a few of Uber competitors in other markets, such as 99 (Brazil), Ola (India), Grab (Singapore) as well as Lyft (USA).
Booking Holdings has a user base in close to 220 countries, whereas a large majority of Didi’s 550 million users are in China. It might be interesting to watch how Didi Chuxing will bolster its operation and whether it will be able to beat the leading ride-hailing company Uber or not.