Didi Raised Another $4B, Valuation Exceeds Uber
Didi’s two rounds of financing in 2017 totaled between US $9.5 billion and $10.5 billion. According to a Renaissance Capital report, there were 37 science and technology IPOs in the US that attracted $9.9 billion in financing in 2017. That would mean Didi’s total capital raised this year is more than the total technology IPOs in the US.
SEE ALSO: Cheng Wei Says Didi Has Only Achieved 1% of The Mission
On December 21, Caijing reported that Didi is undergoing a new round of financing worthy $4 billion to $5 billion. Its investors include Mubadala and Soft Bank in an agreement that was signed in the early hours. Caijing has not learned Didi’s latest valuation after this round of financing.
When the financing ended, Didi’s cash reserves were close to $12 billion, sources said.
It is the first time Didi has directly introduced capital from the Middle East. Mubadala is one of the world’s largest sovereign funds. According to Mubadala website, Mubadala became SoftBank Vision Fund LP by spending $15 billion on May 20. SoftBank Vision Fund is jointly established by SoftBank and Public Investment Fund (hereinafter referred to as PIF), a Saudi wealth sovereign fund. SoftBank Vision Fund is valued at $93 billion.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mubadala CEO, told CNBC on November 26 that he was bullish on China’s continued economic growth. When talking about Didi, he said, “Didi is a good company. President Liu Qing is great. There is huge potential for growth in this industry.”
Didi finished its last round of financing on April 28, during which Didi received more than $5.5 billion. Investors in that round were CMBC, SBCVC, PAGODA, Silver Lake, Russia-China Investment Fund and Bank of Communications. After that round, Didi was valued more than $50 billion. Before this, there were only two Internet companies whose valuation had exceeded $50 billion: Ant Financial, with $75 billion, and Uber, with $68 billion at its peak.
In 2017, Didi’s two rounds of financing added up to between $9.5 billion and $10.5 billion. According to a Renaissance Capital report, there were 37 science and technology IPOs in the US that attracted $9.9 billion in financing in 2017. That would mean Didi’s total capital raised this year is more than the total technology IPOs in the US.
“This means the capital market is getting more and more diversified and richer, and at the same time, money is being concentrated in top enterprises,” a partner of Dollar Fund told Caijing.
According to IT Oranges, Didi has completed 16 rounds of financing since its establishment in 2012. The previous 15 rounds of financing involved 34 investment institutions and individuals, totaling more than $16.8 billion. With this round of funding, the figure exceeded $20 billion.
The sources said the money is likely to be used in Didi’s technology investment, internationalization and new energy car services, among which internationalization is a top priority. Didi’s tech investments include big data, autonomous driving, smart transportation and Didi Silicon Valley Research Institute.
The completion of this round of financing also means Didi will not be profitable in large scale in the short term, nor will it go public. Caijing also learned that Uber, Didi’s biggest rival overseas, is preparing for its 2018 IPO.
At the end of November, Bloomberg cited a source as saying that Uber reduced its value by 30 percent to $48 billion. Didi’s current valuation exceeds Uber, the sources said.
