China-based chauffeured lift service UCar has confirmed a RMB3.68bn ($568m) funding round featuring e-commerce firm Alibaba, China Money Network reported today.
The round also featured China International Capital Corp, Citic Securities and Shenwan Hongyuan, and was announced by Charles Zhengyao Lu, the founder and CEO of UCar’s parent company China Auto Rental (CAR), in a press conference yesterday.
CAR spun UCar out in January 2015, providing it with $125m in funding six months later. Legend Capital, which acts as conglomerate Legend Holdings’ corporate venturing arm, and private equity firm Warburg Pincus invested a further $550m in September.
Alibaba has paid $432m for a 9.8% stake in UCar, slightly less than the $460m suggested by reports last month, though Lu said Alibaba has transferred its stake in UCar to its Yunfeng Capital and Yunling Capital fund affiliates and does not directly hold any shares in the company.
The transfer was made because of objections by another Alibaba portfolio company, ride hailing platform Didi Kuaidi, according to Tencent Tech. Alibaba and UCar have however signed a strategic collaboration agreement that will focus on transport-based e-commerce and smart cars.
UCar revealed the funding, raised at the end of February this year, at the same time as it filed to list on China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) stock market. The latest round valued UCar at RMB28.7bn.