Tech giant just landed $1 billion in funding for its Chinese branch

folarin okunola

August 28, 2015 9:27 PM

Investors are still hopeful for the U.S.-based ride service despite strong domestic competition in the same market.

Uber

According to various media reports, Uber's China division has closed its $1 billion fundraising round early, according to Business Insider.

The report also says investors are still hopeful for the U.S.-based ride service despite strong domestic competition in the same market.

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According to sources, investors in Uber’s Chinese unit include Hillhouse Capital, Asia’s biggest hedge fund, Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc, China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd, China Life Insurance Co Ltd, Ping An Insurance Group Co of China amongst others.

Business Insider says a spokeswoman for Uber declined to comment.

The deal was oversubscribed, according to another source directly familiar with the fundraising. According to a fundraising document quoted by Reuters last week, this latest round of funding values UberChina at $7 billion, with the company planning to list on the mainland by 2020.

To grow in China, the company formally launched a fundraising round on June 22. According to an email sent by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to investors and obtained by the Financial Times earlier this summer, four out of the top 10 are now in China.

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Uber growth in China is crazy. The company’s service is taking off in China much faster than it did in the United States. Just nine months after launching in Chengdu, the company already has 479 times the trips it had in New York after the same amount of time.

folarin okunola