Didi and Uber, the leading rivals in the ride-hailing market of China, have announced new funding and market expansion plans, back-to-back. (Photo : YouTube)
On Tuesday, Didi Kuaidi, China's biggest ride-hailing company collaborates with China Merchants Bank (CMB), a leading Chinese private bank.
It is going to be an extensive strategic partnership which includes driver recruitment, automobile financing services, joint bank cards, in-app credit card payments and equity investments.
This equity investment with CMB is the most recent addition to the mobile app's influential backers that already includes Alibaba, Ping An Ventures, China Investment Corporation, Tencent, CITIC Capital, China International Capital Corporation, Beijing Automotive Group and more.
Neither of the concerned parties unveiled the amount of investments. Didi Kuaidi was able to come up with a record braking three billion U.S. dollars in 2015.
President of Didi Kuaidi Jean Liu at a press conference announcing the partnership called their investment with CMB a heavyweight, as its relationship with them is strong and binding.
Liu said their partnership with CMB will enable the app to link its mobile online-to-offline and financial platforms to CMB's experience in the banking sector to create the world's biggest online ride-hailing platform.
CMB clients will be able to pay fares using their CMB credit cards. Both CMB and Didi Kuaidi will start accepting applications for credit and savings cards through Didi's app or CMB's sales channels in the second quarter of 2016.
Car owners and drivers working for Didi Kuaidi will be able to fund vehicle purchases via the bank, with payment and terms based on both companies' joint reviews. They will be sharing client information in line with its regulations.
As per data from the China Internet Network Information Center, in China alone, there are around 688 million Internet users and mostly spend their money through their handsets.
With 14 million registered drivers and more than 250 million registered app users, Didi Kuaidi will make one of the most renowned apps and online payment platform, reporting 1.43 billion rides in 2015.
