Uber, the San Fransisco based ride hailing app has been keen on conquering the Chinese market. The company launched operations in China in 013 and operates UberBlack, UberX and UberXL services in various cities and towns in China. Uber also has a $1 Billion war chest for the Chinese market where it is currently ranked second in terms of market share with 11% of the market. Uber also recently raised another $1.3 Billion round of funding targeting the Chinese market. Uber CEO recently stated that the company has managed to lock in 30% of the Chinese taxi hailing business. The service plans to enter into 100 new cities in the Chinese market by the end of 2016.
In the Chinese market, Uber is competing against Didi Kuaidi which launched operations in February 2015. Didi Kuaidi was formed after the merger of rival apps Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache. Didi Kuaidi has been diversifying fast launching a bus shuttle service as well as a chauffeur service. It currently has a market share of 78% and raised $3 Billion for to help it scale its operations in China and the Asian markets. According to the South China Morning Post, Didi Kuaidi has now re-branded itself as Didi Chuxing complete with a new logo. The re-branding exercise is meant to shrug off the taxi tag in the Chinese market. Chinese authorities have in recent times targeted taxi hailing services such as Uber and Didi Kuaidi on allegations of illegal operations.
Interestingly is a report that Didi Kuaidi has invested in another taxi hailing service Lyft. Lyft like Uber is based in San Francisco and is Uber’s main rival in the United States market. According to WSJ, Didi Kuaidi invested $150 Million together with other Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba Holdings. The collaborative economy segment is beginning to heat up especially in countries with large populations such as India and China hence the intense competition.
