Peter Mondrose
Uber has raised $1.2 billion as it continues to seek out dominance in the Chinese ride-sharing economy. The company’s newest round of funding was led by Chinese search giant Baidu.
News of the $1.2 billion funding round arrived just hours after rival Didi Kuaidi said it was raising $3 billion for a market valuation of $16.5 billion.
News of the Uber valuation was announced by Chinese-language site Sina. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Uber confirmed the $1.2 billion figure to TechCrunch.
Bloomberg first reported rumors of Didi’s funding, however, the company did not confirm who was investing in the newest round. Some big names are already helping the company expand including, Alibaba, Softbank, Tencent, China Investment Corp and Beijing Automotive.
Baidu announced in December 2014 that it has already purchased a strategic stake in the company, marking its first investment in Uber.
Uber and Baidu are not disclosing the exact stake the search giant has taken at this time.
Uber will use part of the money it raised to fund $161 million in free rides for Chinese customers.
