Uber vs. Its Com- petitors in Fundraising

Uber Technologies Inc. and its Chinese Competitors Didi and Kuaidi Joint Co. were both closing in on the latest round in fundraising drives to fuel their battle for Chinas ride-hailing market.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the China unit had raised $1.2 billion during ongoing fundraising， while people familiar with the issue said that larger local competitors Didi and Kuaidi had brought in $3 billion.

The fundraising round has not yet been completed， and hundreds of millions more should still be added.

The two firms are spending largely to subsidize rides and gain market share， betting on Chinas internet-linked transport market becoming the worlds biggest and most lucrative.

Uber has been on a fundraising tear as it expands globally in the face of major competition. China is the companys latest target market.

This fundraising news was first revealed in Chinese-language site Sina by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick， and Uber has confirmed the figures directly.

Previous Investor names confirmed for Didi and Kuaidi include Alibaba， Softbank， Tencent， China Investment Corp and Beijing Automotive and some of these are believed to be in this latest round， too.

In June Uber was only raising about$1 billion in China. In July， Didi and Kuaidi confirmed it was raising $2 bil-lion； the $3 billion here is an expansion of that earlier round.

Whats also interesting about this funding is that its an expansion of a very regional model for Uber， which is developing Uber China as its own standalone entity， giving investors a way of putting money into the companys expansion in one specific area. The focus on investing in China is in line with the rapid growth Uber has seen there， doubling business volume in August， and seeing 100 million app accesses each day.

Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick told Chinese news website Sina in an interview that it had raised $1.2 billion so far from investors for its China unit， including an additional investment from strategic partner Baidu Inc.

An Uber spokeswoman confirmed the comments but declined to say how much Baidu invested in this round. A Baidu spokesman also confirmed the investment， but declining to give a sum.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that UberChina was closing in on a $1 billion funding round that would value the Chinese business at about $7.5 billion， and that Didi and Kuaidi was raising further funding that could reach $1 billion.

Cooperate with Baidu

Baidu has been an Uber investor since last year. In December it said it had made a strategic investment of about $600 million in the American company.

This time， Uber confirmed that it has raised a further $1.2 billion in funding， led by search giant Baidu， in order to continue expanding Uber China.

Baidus role in this latest $1.2 billion investment is in addition to its earlier stake. As with the previous funding， Baidu and Uber are not disclosing the exact figure. So far， the total valuation of Uber China is over $8 billion.

At the event， Baidu， Chinas Internet search leader， demonstrated a voiceoperated artificial intelligence smartphone assistant for finding nearby offline services， which could also control a robot reminiscent of Disneys WALLE.

After the Baidu slot， Kalanick spoke of the importance of Ubers relationship with the Internet firm.

“We can get introductions to the city governments， the government officials that want to shepherd our kind of innovation and our kind of progress into their cities，” he said.

During the speech， Kalanick adopted the language of Chinese officialdom， riffing on favored Communist Party subjects such as harmony and stability.

“Progress is something we see the government be incredibly open to， whether it be about more jobs and less pollution， less congestion on the streets， better utilization of infrastructure， that kind of progress always has to be in harmony with stability and that is one of the big things that we partnered with the government on，” he said.

In the case of China， Uber is working very closely with Baidu to develop the companys local presence， local staffing and integration with local maps and other services.

Uber， according to CrunchBase， has officially raised $7 billion to date（although with todays news that is getting boosted to $8.2 billion）. In the past， Uber had said it would invest $1 billion into China， and it looks like that would come directly from Ubers coffers rather than extra， external investment.

Baidu first invested in Uber at the end of December and hasnt disclosed the size of its investment.

Enter 100 more Chinese cities in next 12 months

Uber CEO Travis Kalanicks insistence on winning China has forced him to spend big.

Uber Technologies Inc—the appbased， on-demand transportation service will enter 100 more Chinese cities over the next year， doubling a previous goal set just in June， Chief Executive Travis Kalanick said in September.

Ubers China unit currently operates in almost 20 cities， Kalanick said at an event in Beijing held by Uber investor Baidu Inc.

“When we started this year， we were about one percent market share. Today， nine months later， were looking at about 30 to 35 percent market share”， Kalanick said. He did not specify whether that market was for all ridehailing services including taxis， where Didi and Kuaidi dominates， or just for private cars.

Uber also welcomes new regulations expected later this year governing ride-hailing services in China， Kalanick said.

However， while Uber is a very dominant force in its home market of the US， as well as in other markets where it has made aggressive moves to establish itself in the face of incumbent taxi services， in China the story is different.

In China， Uber is still behind. Few Internet companies tend to succeed in the country， mainly because the government prefers local players it can more strictly watch over.

Instead of Google， for instance， the country has Baidu. Weibo stands in for Twitter in China， Alibaba for Amazon. So far， domestic companies have consistently won in China.

In June， it was reported that Didi and Kuaidi was carrying about three times as many passengers as Uber in China： hence the very strong push that the latter is making to change that ratio in its favor.

There have also been some fairly ruthless tactics carried out to keep Uber in check， it seems. Earlier in June Uber had its account and profile blocked by the very popular WeChat messaging service. WeChat claimed that it was for an unspecified rule violation. Uber believes it was a more obvious competitive move — given that WeChat is owned by Tencent， an investor in Didi and Kuaidi— to block people communicating with Uber on the network， and therefore curb some of its growth.

But with a growing middle class calls for the best consumer tech， Uber clearly believes it still has a chance. With another billion dollars to spend， its not giving China up without an all-out fight.

The expansion puts it head-to-head with local competitors Didi and Kuadi which recently raised $3bn in funding.

Chinas internet-linked transport market is rapidly becoming the worlds largest and is proving lucrative for Uber. And its becoming clearer that for Uber and its competitors， winning China means winning the world.

Kalanick said the firm had gone from a tiny 1% share of the lift-hailing market in China nine months ago to its current 30%-35% market share.

He did not specify what percentage of this was for private cars and what for taxis， where it faces tough competition from dominant player Didi and Kuadi.