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Why Uber’s Chinese nemesis Didi Chuxing just raised $7 billion more

Sometimes the world of tech news makes you sit back in disbelief and wonder what can happen next.

There was once a time, long in the past, when Uber raising a billion dollars in funding stood out as a huge topic of discussion, a landmark of where things were moving to. Well, we’re there now. These days, the company can pull in a record $3.5 billion round and precious few eyebrows are raised — it’s just another piece of news that day.

But here’s one Uber-related funding development that did stun people: Didi Chuxing, the company that is beating Uber in China, just landed an incredible $7.3 billion in fresh financing.

Seven billion U.S. dollars!

But there’s more. Four-year-old Didi said it already has billions in the bank from its previous fundraising — which amounts to more than $10 billion — and this fresh influx takes it to more than $10 billion of cash in hand.

That’s right: MORE THAN $10 BILLION

While it has alliances and investments in Lyft, India’s Ola and Grab in Southeast Asia — the enemy of my enemy is my friend — Didi operates in China and China alone. China is the world’s largest country, but why on earth does Didi require $10 billion when Uber, which is global, claims to have over $11 billion on its balance sheet.

(Source: Tech Crunch )