China-based ride hailing service Didi Chuxing has closed the largest ever financing round by a private, venture capital-backed company, raising $7.3m in debt and equity, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The $4.5bn equity portion of the round included $1bn from electronics producer Apple, a reported $400m from e-commerce firm Alibaba and its Ant Financial affiliate, $600m from insurer China Life, and contributions from internet company Tencent, telecommunications group SoftBank and, according to TechCrunch, BlackRock.
China Merchants Bank supplied $2.5bn in debt financing and China Life added $300m of long-term debt. The round values Didi Chuxing at $28bn, according to WSJ.
Didi Chuxing was formed by the merger of China’s two largest ride ordering platforms – Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache – in early 2015. Formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, its operations span taxi ordering, carpooling, bus travel and chauffeured car services, and it boasts the lion’s share of China’s ride hailing market.
The round increased Didi Chuxing’s overall financing to $10.5bn, it said in a press release. It closed $3bn in funding from Tencent, Alibaba, insurance group Ping An, Temasek, China Investment Corp, Capital International Private Equity Fund and Coatue Management in September 2015.
The cash will likely be used to maintain the company’s home market dominance over US-based Uber, which itself raised $3.5bn in funding earlier this month, from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Cheng Wei, co-founder and CEO of Didi Chuxing, said in a statement: “In just four years, Didi has created a firm lead in China’s mobile transportation sector. With our advantages in technology, platform synergies, and talented team, Didi is prepared to continue this momentum of growth.”
– This article was amended on 17 June 2016 to reflect BlackRock’s involvement in the round.