China’s biggest ride-hailing company is upping the stakes as it competes with Uber.
Didi Kuaidi is raising around $1 billion in a new funding round, according to a person close to the situation. As the terms haven’t yet been finalized, it’s not possible to give a new valuation, the person added.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the new round would value the company at more than $20 billion.
Didi Kuaidi declined to comment. It raised $3 billion in September, valuing the company at $16.5 billion.
Didi Kuaidi is backed by tech giants Alibaba and Tencent and other big investors. It is by far the largest player in China, with a big majority of the market.
But competition is growing. Uber has big ambitions in China and is losing $1 billion a year amid a fierce battle for market share.
A spokeswoman for Uber said the company currently operates in more than 40 Chinese cities, and will expand to 100 by the end of this year.
Didi Kuaidi has engaged in its own splashy global expansion, partnering with U.S. based Lyft, southeast Asia’s GrabTaxi and India’s Ola Cabs.
It brought on Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang late last year to advise on strategy.
— Sophia Yan contributed to this article
