Didi invests in rival Uber's competitors outside China, such as Lyft, GrabTaxi and, recently, India's Ola. (Photo : www.technologynewschina.com)
Ola, an Indian ride-hailing app, has recently received good news after China's leading company in this sector, Didi, announced it has joined a group of investors who agreed to fund the firm.
The group also includes Softbank, Falcon Edge, GIC and Tiger Global. Details on the amount of funding are yet to be disclosed.
Didi's move comes after it has invested $100 million in the U.S. ride-sharing service Lyft earlier this month.
It has also participated in GrabTaxi's recent $350-million fundraising. The app is widely popular in Southeast Asian countries.
Both GrabTaxi and Lyft are regarded as the rivals of Uber, Didi's challenger in China, in their respective regions.
In a statement, Didi said that Ola holds majority of India's ride-hailing market. With 320,000 vehicles in over a hundred cities that offer an estimated 750,000 rides daily, the firm is said to have an 80-percent share in the market.
Recently, the Indian ride-hailing app revealed its $754-million expansion plan in India. The firm eyes to increase the number of its drivers to 100,000 by the end of 2016 using an initial investment worth $75 million.
In China, figures show that Didi is still the leading firm in the country's online transportation services. It accounts 99 and 82 percent of the nation's taxi-hailing and ride-on-demand services.
This month, the Chinese startup surged to $16.5 billion after Ping An Ventures and China Investment Corp. joined Didi's $3-billion placement.
Didi has also set foot on other businesses after it expanded its offerings to carpooling and customized shuttle services.
