China-based ride hailing service Didi Chuxing has confirmed it has raised $5.5bn in funding from investors including telecommunications and internet group SoftBank.
The round also featured Silver Lake Kraftwerk, part of private equity group Silver Lake, and financial services firms China Merchants Bank and Bank of Communications, sources “very close to the company” told TechCrunch, adding that it was closed at a valuation of more than $50bn.
Didi Chuxing’s on-demand ride service is by some distance the largest in China according to user numbers, and spans registered taxis, peer-to-peer drivers, chauffeured cars, ride sharing and a corporate travel offering.
The company said in a statement revealing the latest round that it has “active internationalisation plans” and is working on intelligent driving and smart transportation projects, having opened a research lab in Silicon Valley in March this year.
In addition to spending cash on direct technology, Didi Chuxing has also begun making corporate venture capital investments, contributing money to rounds for international counterparts Lyft, 99 and Ola as well as bicycle rental service Ofo.
The latest round, which sources told VentureBeat consisted entirely of equity, took Didi Chuxing’s total equity funding to $13.2bn, $4.5bn of which came in a SoftBank-backed round in June 2016 that valued it at about $28bn.
The 2016 round, closed alongside $2.8bn of debt financing, included a $1bn investment by electronics producer Apple, as well as cash from e-commerce group Alibaba and its financial services offshoot Ant Financial, internet company Tencent, insurance provider China Life, Poly Group and BlackRock.
Manufacturing services provider Foxconn invested $120m in Didi Chuxing in September 2016, following the latter’s $7bn all-stock acquisition of Uber China in July, and its other backers include insurer Ping An, Temasek, China Investment Corp, Capital International Private Equity Fund, Citic Capital and Coatue Management.