Online media company Leshi Internet Information and Technology agreed today to pay $700m for a 70% stake in Yidao Yongche, a China-based online car sharing service backed by several corporate investors.
Yongche, which counts online travel agency Ctrip, wireless technology manufacturer Qualcomm and internet company Baidu among its shareholders, operates a service through which users can reserve and hire private cars.
The investment will give Leshi a stake in China’s on-demand transport market, currently dominated by ride sharing apps Didi Kuaidi and Uber China.
Yongche raised $1m in seed funding from ZhenFund in 2010 and an additional $10m from Qualcomm Ventures, Qualcomm’s corporate venturing unit, and venture capital firm Morningside Ventures the following year.
Private equity firm CBC Capital added $15m in series B funding in April 2013, before Ctrip and VC firm DCM co-led a $60m round in December the same year. Yongche raised a reported $100m in a September 2014 round led by Singaporean state-backed GIC which also included Baidu.
Ctrip will maintain a minority stake in the business, a source told Shanghai Daily, which initially reported the deal. Yongche has not disclosed whether any of its existing investors have exited in the transaction.
Leshi’s core business is its online video streaming service, LeTV, but it is endeavouring to expand into a variety of fields including smartphones and televisions. It has also been working on its own electric vehicle since late last year.