Shouqi Yueche, the China-based ride hailing service backed by internet group Baidu, has closed hundreds of millions of dollars of series C funding from undisclosed investors, 36Kr reported on Friday.
Founded in 2015 by taxi and rental car provider Shouqi Group, Shouqi Yueche operates an on-demand ride service with 113 million registered users across 160 Chinese cities as of September this year, a figure that reportedly represents a 31% increase year on year.
The company specialises in fleets of vehicles to transport large groups to events such as weddings or student functions, and also has a sizeable presence at other transport junctions such as airports or railway stations.
Shouqi Yueche expects to reach profitability on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) basis by the end of 2020. It had raised $88m in series B funding in July 2017 from unnamed investors at a $750m valuation.
The series B round came in advance of approximately $103m four months later in a series B-plus round featuring Baidu and Nio Capital, the venture capital firm launched by electric vehicle producer Nio, in addition to Silk Road Huachuang and Hina Group.
A subsidiary of investment firm China Jianyin Investment had already provided $34m for the company in 2016 at a valuation of $245m, and its backers also include Harvest Capital Management.
