China ride hailing app Didi Kuaidi has just upped the ante in its fight against rival Uber, raising $3 billion from the likes of China Investment Corp, Capital International Private Equity Fund, Ping An Ventures, joining investors Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings, Temasek and Coatue Management.
This is days after Uber China raised $1.2 billion in a round led by Baidu. According to the Financial times, the battle for dominance has already cost both firms over a $1 billion in marketing and incentives for drivers and passengers.
Burning obscene amounts of cash can be important for start-ups in a nascent industry for obtaining economies of scale, even more so when you have to beat away competition.
But, increasingly it looks like this can only go one way. A recent article in Forbes showed that Didi Kuaidi has a 78.3% market share in China vs Uber’s 10%. Its not just in China that Uber is struggling to take market share from local rivals.
Will Uber snag enough market share to recoup it losses in China? Looking at Didi Kuaidi dominance – and the fact it has the resources and backers to easily match Uber’s war chest – it is difficult not to feel the US-firm is on a hiding to nothing.
Photo: Gary Paulson