Didi Kuaidi to Get Backing From China Investment Corp.

China's homegrown ride-hailing service is getting an influential backer in its battle against Uber Technologies Inc.: China Investment Corp.

China Investment Corp., the country's sovereign-wealth fund, has made a commitment to invest in Didi Kuaidi Joint Co. as part of its recent fundraising round, according to people familiar with the situation. The Didi Kuaidi fundraising round had a "first closing" last month of $2 billion, valuing the Chinese ride-hailing app at $15 billion. At that time, Didi Kuaidi said it was looking to raise "a further few hundred million dollars from new investors before the final closing in the coming month."

Many companies covet an investment from China Investment Corp. because it carries the imprimatur of China's government. CIC has rarely invested in Chinese technology companies, but did lead an investment in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as the Chinese e-commerce giant bought back a large stake in itself from Yahoo! Inc. in 2012. That investment, ahead of Alibaba's giant $25 billion initial public offering in New York last year, proved to be very profitable for the Chinese sovereign-wealth fund. Alibaba is also an investor in Didi Kuaidi.

The fundraising is part of Didi Kuaidi's escalating battle with Uber to win over global investors and investors in China. Uber just completed raising nearly $1 billion from investors including Microsoft Corp. in a new round that valued the global ride-hailing leader at close to $51 billion, people familiar with the situation said earlier. That fundraising was for its global operations and made it the most valuable startup in the world, passing Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. Uber is also raising money separately for its China unit, UberChina, to expand in the country. China's top search engine Baidu Inc. is an investor in Uber and its strategic partner in China.

Didi Kuaidi, which was formed by the $6 billion merger of two competing taxi-hailing apps in February, has emerged as one of China's hottest startups. It claims to have captured over 80% of China's premium car-hailing service market and over 90% of the taxi-hailing service market within China. It also boasts the support of China's two most powerful Internet companies, Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd., which had separately backed the two competing taxi-hailing apps that merged to form Didi Kuaidi.

The investment from China Investment Corp. gives Didi Kuaidi a backer with even deeper pockets than Alibaba and Tencent.

CIC managed over $740 billion worth of assets at the end of last year. Its portfolio includes holdings in the country's big domestic financial institutions and a more diversified set of overseas investments in bonds, stocks, and global fund commitments. It has made big bets on U.S. financial giants Morgan Stanley and Blackstone Group LP, as well as placing funds with outside managers.

CIC earned an annualized return of 5.7% on its overseas portfolio from its launch in September 2007 to the end of last year.

Write to Rick Carew at [e-mail]

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