Didi Kuaidi invests in Lyft to threaten Uber on its homeground
Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Kuaidi struck back against rival Uber by investing in its top US competitor Lyft back in May.
As Uber invests heavily in establishing a worthy foothold in China despite dominance from homegrown joint venture Didi Kuaidi, Kuaidi looked to establish a presence in Uber’s home market with an investment in Lyft.
Didi Kuaidi, which now holds 80 per cent of the Chinese market, is under siege with Uber announcing it wants a presence in 100 Chinese cities by the end of 2015.
Lyft sources told the Wall Street Journal that Didi Kuaidi - and joint owners Alibaba and Tencent - all quietly invested in the company back in May during its last fundraising series in a bid to prop up Uber's rival in the US.
The news comes as Didi Kuaidi closes its latest funding round, raking in $3bn, bringing the firm’s warchest to $4bn in total.