- General
- July 17, 2018
- 3 minutes read
Booking Holdings invests $500 million in major ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing
image credit : Didi Chuxing Travel giant Booking Holdings notable for operating some of the world’s largest travel tech services…
image credit : Didi Chuxing
Travel giant Booking Holdings notable for operating some of the world’s largest travel tech services including its eponymous Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, Cheapflights and Agoda.com while being a major company in the transportation tech sector has now entered into a strategic partnership with Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing investing $500 million while integrating both company’s services together.
This partnership will now see several integrated features such as a new one which will now see users on Booking Holdings’ brands being able to get on-demand car services powered by Didi in-app and Didi’s users now also having the option to book hotels though Booking.com and Agoda.
Stephen Zhu, Vice President for Strategy of Didi Chuxing, said, “Building on its leadership and expertise in the global online travel market, Booking is championing a digital revolution of travel experience. We look forward to seamlessly connecting every segment of the journey and improving everyone’s traveling experience through more collaborative innovation with the Booking brands on product, technology and market development.”
Didi Chuxing is notable for heading against Uber in the Chinese region which led to Uber China’s operations being acquired by the company in a joint deal which saw Uber get a then 17.7% stake in Didi Chuxing which has raised what now amounts to over $20 Billion in several rounds of financing since its start 2012 with its most previous funding round giving the private company a behemoth valuation of $56 Billion.
Didi currently stands as the dominant ride-hailing company in the Chinese region and is notable for having made partnerships with major ride-hailing firms around the globe including Estonian Ride-hailing unicorn Taxify, Brazil’s major ride-hailing service 99, Grab, Ola Cabs, Lyft and Careem with its services now reaching an estimated over 80% of the world’s population in over 1,000 cities.
“Through this partnership, the world’s largest online travel platform and the world’s largest mobility platform aspire to develop more customized travel solutions to build a more diversified travel eco-system.” quoting a joint press release made by both companies concerning this strategic partnership and investment.
