Uber, the San Fransisco based ride hailing app has been keen on conquering the Chinese market. The company launched operations in China in 2013 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. 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.
According to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, over 30% of Uber’s total rides are now taken in China. Uber’s market share in the Chinese market has risen to between 30-35% from 11% recorded earlier in 2015. Uber’s main competition is 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 has also raised $3 Billion for to help it scale its operations in China and the Asian markets besides re-brandingidi Chuxing complete with a new logo. The re-branding exercise is meant to shrug off the taxi tag in the Chinese market. Didi Kuaidi has been investing in taxi hailing services across the world including Ola in India and Lyft in the United States.
Source: NBC
