Uber China, the local subsidiary of US-based ride hailing app developer Uber backed by internet company Baidu, is seeking to extend its latest round to $2.5bn, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
Uber China closed a $1bn round earlier this month, which also included insurance providers Ping An and China Life Insurance, hedge fund Hillhouse Capital and financial services firm China Citic Bank. However, according to Reuters, Ping An’s and Hillhouse’s involvement was denied by several sources.
Uber will retain a controlling stake in its subsidiary following the additional equity funding.
The company has been struggling to take on the Chinese market, where rivals Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache merged in February 2015 to form Didi Kuaidi, which was then reported to cover 95% of the market.
Didi Kuaidi most recently raised $3bn from e-commerce company Alibaba, internet company Tencent and Ping An, among others, earlier this month, and has inked strategic partnerships with US peer Lyft and professional networking platform LinkedIn.
Uber has reportedly considered spinning out its China subsidiary through an initial public offering. The parent company is currently valued at $51bn, and most recently raised a $1bn round in June 2015 led by Hillhouse.