UCar, the China-based chauffeured lift startup that counts e-commerce company Alibaba and conglomerate Legend Holdings as investors, has gone public in its home country, China Money Network reported today.
The amount raised by UCar has not been revealed but the initial public offering valued the company at RMB36.9bn ($5.53bn), giving it the second largest market cap on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations market, behind investment firm JD Capital.
Spun out of car rental service CAR in January 2015, UCar offers a chauffeured ride service that can be booked through an app. It owns its entire fleet, meaning it can exercise more direct control over its services than ride hailing apps like Uber or Didi Chuxing.
The company had almost five million users as of the end of 2015, who were responsible for booking around 230,000 rides each day. It posted a RMB3.7bn net loss in 2015 from revenue of RMB1.7bn.
UCar had raised more than $1.2bn in venture funding according to press reports, securing $125m from CAR in July 2015. Legend Holdings subsidiary Legend Capital and private equity firm Warburg Pincus invested a combined $550m in September.
Alibaba took a 9.8% stake in the company in a $568m round that closed in April 2016, and which also included China International Capital Corp, Citic Securities and Shenwan Hongyuan.
Alibaba’s share was transferred to two affiliates, Yunfeng Capital and Yunling Capital, to avoid conflicts of interest, as Alibaba is also an investor in Didi Chuxing. UCar’s largest shareholder is founder and CEO Charles Zhengyao Lu, who owns an 11.9% stake.