China-based ride hailing service Xiangdao Chuxing closed RMB300m ($45.9m) in series A funding from e-commerce group Alibaba and advanced battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) yesterday.
Formed by automotive manufacturer SAIC Motor and launched in late 2018, Xiangdao is a ride hailing platform that incorporates an on-demand vehicle rental service. It also provides ride-booking technology for use by taxi operators, and had 10 million registered users as of August this year.
The company will collaborate with Alibaba and CATL on exploring the utilisation of autonomous driving, new energy and data technology in the ride hailing business. Its service mainly focuses on the city of Shanghai, but it plans to expand across China in 2021.