Apple Invests $1 billion In China Taxi App Didi Chuxing.
US tech firm Apple has raised its stakes in China by investing $1 billion in ride-hailing app Didi Chuxin, the single leading investment received by the Chinese cab service company.
Didi said that it has expected $1 billion in strategic investment from Apple. The investment from Apple is the single largest investment Didi has ever received.
The investment is considered important as Didi rivals US taxi-hailing app Uber, state-run China Daily reported.
Previously known as Didi Kuaidi, the company has been appreciated at $20bn in recent funding rounds, up from $15bn last July. Apple did not identify what size of the stake it will receive.
Apple is among a collection of international institutions and Chinese that are bankrolling Didi's determined expansion plan in its most recent fundraising round. Through this investment, Apple has developed a strategic investor in Didi, and joins Tencent, Alibaba and other key supporters to help further Didi's mission of building a data-driven ride-sharing platform to serve hundreds of millions of passengers and Chinese drivers , the report said.
Apple is attempting to reinvigorate deals in China, where it has gone under better pressure from regulators, and Cook is traveling to the country this month.
The move adjusts Apple to Uber Technologies Inc's main opponent in China, as automakers and innovation organizations manufacture new unions and make cross endeavors. General Motors (GM.N), for example, as of late purchased independent driving innovation organization Cruise Automation and has additionally taken a stake in U.S. ride-sharing organization Left.
Cook said in an interview that he saw chances for Didi Chucking and Apple to collaborate in the future.
"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," he said. "Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return on our invested capital over time as well."
Didi represents the innovation taking place in the iOS developer community in Tim Cook, China, Apple’s CEO said.
"We are extremely impressed by the business they've built and their excellent leadership team, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow," he said.
Building on its analysis capabilities and data mining, Didi believed in a statement that it records over 11 million rides a day on its platform, serving close to 300 million users across over 400 Chinese cities with a various range of mobile technology-based transportation options.