top ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing company of China said increased its valuation to about $56 billion

top ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing company of China said increased its valuation to about $56 billion top ride–hailing app Didi Chuxing company of China said increased its valuation to about $56 billion after completing a new funding round of more than $4 billion. Details surrounding the deal are scarce, but a source close to The latest investment values Didi at over $50 billion, The names of the investors in the round were not revealed. Didi said in brief statement that “Chinese and international institutions joined the latest fundraising round cash needed to aggressively pursue expansion opportunities in other country . This marks the second major funding round that Didi has closed this year The financing increases its cash reserves to $12 billion and includes backing from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, the people said, asking to not be identified as the details are private. The company was previously said to be valued at $50 billion. Didi confirmed the $4 billion round and said it will help fund international expansion while SoftBank Group Corp. said it took part Didi plans to scale up investments in AI talent and technologies, to further build up its intelligent driving and smart transportation capabilities It has a lab in the United States for artificial-intelligence research, for example, where it’s preparing technology for autonomous vehicles. It’s expanding into car-sharing, a booming trend in China (along with bike-sharing) wherein ordinary people can rent cars by minutes or hours. It’s also building a network of electric-vehicle charging stations across China, and has committed to getting over 1 million “new energy vehicles” in its fleet over the next five years. And it’s also experimenting with various “smart city” initiatives that bring data and technology to public infrastructure—in the western city of Wuhan, for example, Didi has rolled out vehicles that can change lane directions on public roads (link in Chinese) to alter traffic flow. some media reports are saying Didi will expand internationally—if not by launching Didi services directly thane indirect;y through local entities in other countries. The company has funded Grab in Southeast Asia, Taxify in Africa, and 99 in Latin America, all of which compete with Uber locally Didi claims to operate the world’s largest fleet of electric cars. Out of the two million electric vehicles currently on the road in China, more than 260,000 are on its platform, it said, which overall has 450 million users and 21 million drivers, and includes a ride-hailing app, as well as taxi, minibus and car rental services. The company’s goal is to increase that amount to one million electric vehicles by 2020.]]>