China's biggest ride-sharing service, Didi Kuaidi, announced that it has made an investment in India's most popular ride-hailing app Ola to strengthen a global alliance that looks to challenge the dominance of Uber in the controversial industry.
The investment is a part of Ola's most recent funding round, where the Indian company looked to raise more than $500 million at a valuation of $5 billion to be able to expand more in its home country.
Other companies that made an investment in Ola in the funding round include Softbank, Tiger Global Management, GIC and Falcon Edge.
The announcement was forwarded by Didi Kuaidi to tech news website TechCrunch. The website's attempts to contact Ola for additional details regarding the entire funding round have not yet been returned.
The exact amount of Didi Kuaidi's investment in Ola was not confirmed by the Chinese company, but an earlier report pegged the value at about $30 million, though the figure has not yet been confirmed by either Didi Kuaidi or Ola.
The investment by Didi Kuaidi in Ola is part of an interesting strategy being carried out by the company and its investors. While rival Uber, the company that all other ride-sharing services is looking to challenge, continues to expand its business all over the world supported by funding of no less than $8.2 billion and a valuation of $50 billion, Didi Kuaidi is focusing on China for its business.
As Didi Kuaidi expands its business in its home country, the company is investing significantly in Uber competitors located in other countries in an attempt to match Uber internationally, while the companies that Didi Kuaidi invests in are likewise focusing on their local efforts.
"Didi Kuaidi looks to engage local industry champions like Ola to share technology and best practices in product development and operational expertise - all honed from deep market data-driven operations," said the Chinese company in a statement.
The announcement by Didi Kuaidi regarding its investment into Ola comes in the same month when it was revealed that the company made a $100 million investment in United States' Uber rival Lyft, and just a few days after the confirmation that Didi Kuaidi also teamed up with professional social network LinkedIn. Didi Kuaidi also made an investment in Malaysian GrabTaxi last month.
Whether Uber remains on top internationally or is toppled by the growing alliance of its rivals, however, remains to be seen.
