Uber Technologies Inc., an American ride-hailing service, is set to invade more than 100 Chinese cities in 2016. According to the company's Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, they are doubling up the quantity of their previous goal which was set three months ago. Uber's announcement was made on Tuesday.
During an event in Beijing, which was sponsored by Uber Investor Baido Inc., Kalanick announced that Uber is currently operating in almost 20 cities in China. According to Reuters, Kalanick's announcement came a day after he revealed that its China unit had raised $1.2 billion during the ongoing fundraising. Unfortunately, Uber's local competitor, Didi Kuaidi, had brought in $3 billion.
"When we started this year, we were about one percent market share," Kalanick said. "Today, nine months later, we're looking at about 30 to 35 percent market share."
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The bid for the domination of the taxi industry in China still continues. And Uber's top rival, Didi Kuaidi, remains on top of the game as it recently raised $3 billion during the latest round of funding. As per ZDNet, the latest funding round will see Didi Kuaidi valued at $16.5 billion, an additional $1.5 billion above the valuation given in July. It controversial rival Uber Technologies, on the other hand, has been valued previously at $50 billion.
Both companies, Uber and Didi Kuaidi, which has been the result of the merger of Tencent-funded mobile taxi-service app Didi Dache and rival Alibaba-backed Kuaidi Dache in February, are looking for more Chinese market share and are giving out incentives to attract drivers and riders since the car-booking demand has increased, Bloomberg Business noted.
Meanwhile, the latest funding brought by Didi Kuaidi and Uber will help them pay for growth and expansion in the estimated $1 trillion-a-year market for transportation services in China, the world's most populous country.
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