DiDi

Founding and Early Development (2012–2014)

DiDi was founded in Beijing in June 2012 by Cheng Wei as a taxi-hailing service under the name Didi Dache (嘀嘀打车). The company's initial offering allowed users to request licensed taxis through a smartphone app. Beijing Xiaoju Keji Co. developed the app. Tencent invested $15 million in the startup later that year. By 2014, Didi had become a leading provider in China’s emerging app-based taxi sector.

Merger with Kuaidi Dache (2015)

A study in December 2013 by Analysis International estimated that, at the time, Didi Dache (backed by Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Limited) held approximately 55% of the smartphone-based taxi-hailing market in China (about 150 million Chinese were estimated to use their smartphones to hail taxis). According to the same study, Kuaidi Dache (快的打车; meaning "Fast Taxi"), backed by Alibaba Group, held most of the remaining market share. Aggressive fundraising by the two companies resulted in Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache raising US$700 million and US$600 million from private investors, respectively, to sustain their growth in the world's largest transport market. In February 2015, the companies merged to form Didi Kuaidi.

In May 2015, Didi Kuaidi spent aggressively to compete with other startups, including Yidao Yongche (易到用车) and Uber (of which Baidu was an investor). The company also added other features to complement its basic taxi-calling function such as new premium vehicle services, functions for carpool and designated driver transportation modes and enhanced accessibility functions for passengers with disabilities. In July 2015, Didi Kuaidi completed a US$2 billion fundraising round, bringing the company's cash reserves to over US$3.5 billion; the same month, Didi Kuaidi was reported to get 80.2% market share in car hire services.

Didi Kuaidi's existing stakeholders, including Alibaba, Tencent, Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd and Coatue Management, participated in the round, alongside new investors such as Capital International Private Equity Fund and Ping An Ventures, part of Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd. The July 2015 fundraiser is ranked as the world's largest single fundraising round by any private company, as well as the largest fundraising round for a Chinese mobile internet company at that time.