Geely-Backed Ride-Hailing Platform Caocao Chuxing Receives Billions in New Round of Financing

Chinese ride-hailing platform Caocao Chuxing has recently completed a new round of financing totaling several billions of yuan, according to an insider told 36Kr.

The media outlet attempted to confirm this information, but the relevant person in charge declined to comment. If this is true, the financing would be the first domestic equity financing deal in China’s ride-hailing industry in 2021.

According to information disclosed, Caocao Chuxing was founded in May 2015 and currently provides online ride-hailing services in 62 cities in China.

Commercial inquiry platform Tianyancha shows that Caocao Chuxing’s operating body Hangzhou Youxing Technology underwent industrial and commercial changes on August 4, adding Zhejiang Geely Holding Group as a new shareholder, and the registered capital increased from about 366 million yuan ($56.58 million) to about 433 million yuan.

After the recent increase in capital investment, Geely Technology Group will become the largest shareholder with about 77.33% of the company. The newly added Zhejiang Geely Holding Company holds 15.42% of the shares, with a subscribed capital contribution of 66.7218 million yuan, making it the second largest shareholder.

Prior to this, Caocao Chuxing had completed two rounds of financing. It received 1 billion yuan from Tiantang Guigu Asset Management, Zheshang Venture Capital and Longqi Capital in January 2018, and an undisclosed amount of investment from Zheshang Venture Capital in May 2018.

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Financing deals in the ride-hailing industry have slowed down in the past two years. Previously, Geely supported Caocao Chuxing through capital increases, but the new round of financing is partly because investors saw new possibilities in the industry.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced the implementation of a cybersecurity review for ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing on July 2. Other platforms saw it as a good opportunity to seize the market.

According to statistics provided by the National Ride-Hailing Supervision Information Interactive Platform, the Platform received 776.564 million orders in July, up 10.7% compared with June. Many platforms such as Caocao experienced a surge in orders in July. According to data provided by Qimai, the total number of downloads for Caocao Chuxing’s app in July reached 909,610, an increase of 99% compared with June. July 5 saw a rather large amount of downloads with the single-day download volume peaking at 41,185 downloads.