TCH.jpg (Photo : Reuters)
Following its $100-million Round C funding grab at the beginning of the year, one of China's major taxi-hailing apps, Didi Dache, boasted a massive $700-million funding achievement on Tuesday after its Round D.
The total is the single largest investment round in the history of China. The announcement comes after significant Asian funding expansions from GrabTaxi and Uber that amount to over a billion dollars combined.
Although Uber has received plenty of unwanted media attention over the second half of 2014, this did not stop Didi Dache from launching the Didi Black service in August, the name of which is blatantly copied from the former's Uber Black option.
The bold move also did not stop Internet giant Tencent Holdings from standing behind Didi Dache during the D Round, which was overseen by Singaporean state investment company Temasek Holdings and Russia's DST Global.
In an explanation of what the newly acquired funds will be used for, Didi Dache chief executive and founder Cheng Wei announced in his statement to the media:
"Didi will continue its commitment in providing mobile-based transportation services to more users, strengthening our market leadership, increasing efforts in research and development and enriching our product offerings. The company believes in its mission of making transportation easier for everyone through mobile Internet."
However, Cheng refused to reveal his company's new valuation since the finalization of Round D.
Didi Dache forms part of a booming Chinese sector that has benefited from the difficulty that citizens previously faced, whereby the intense environment that exists on the streets of the country's congested cities made it near impossible to source a taxi.
According to the company, its app is available in over 300 cities, is used by more than 100 million users, and is serviced by a million registered drivers.
