China’s Didi Kuaidi invests in India’s Ola to boost anti-Uber alliance

China’s Didi Kuaidi started out with on-demand taxis – and then added in private cars and commuter buses as well.

In news that could be smelled a mile away, China’s most used ride-hailing service Didi Kuaidi released a statement announcing an investment in Indian equivalent Ola. It now owns a stake in every major Uber rival on the planet, except Hailo and Easy Taxi.

Also investing in Ola’s new round are SoftBank, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Tiger Global, and Falcon Edge. A Didi spokesperson declined to reveal the investment size.

Ola has locked up 80 percent of India’s taxi-booking business and completes over 750,000 rides a day, according to the statement.

Didi’s investment in its peers was announced in quick succession. In August 2015, it invested in Southeast Asia’s GrabTaxi. Then, a month later, it announced it had backed Uber’s chief Amercian rival Lyft.

The Didi and Lyft collaboration has an extra element: Lyft users will be able to use Lyft in China, and Didi users can use Didi in the US. Little details on this are available, but perhaps Didi is working on similar arrangements with GrabTaxi and Ola.

This is another important step in a major arms race for transportation app dominance that’s playing out around the globe. Many pundits predicted an anti-Uber alliance, and the two-horse race is on track to happen.

Source: Reuters