China’s Didi acquired Brazil’s 99, Uber’s key competitor

Almaty. January 5. Silkroadnews - Chinese Didi acquired the Brazilian “99”, Uber’s key competitor, the New Zealand edition of BusinessDay reports.
“Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said it had bought Brazil’s 99 Taxis, opening another front in the Beijing-based company’s global battle with Uber,” the report said.
Didi, which claims to be the world’s leader in taxi cellphone transportation services with more than 450- million users, became a strategic investor in the Brazilian 99 Taxis in January 2017. Now Didi will acquire the company along with its 14 million registered users in Brazil, winning the growing Latin American taxi market.
Didi said it currently has partnership agreements with seven “major international players” serving 1,000 cities around the world.
In 2017 Didi became the most expensive start-up in Asia. Two weeks ago, the company reported that in a new round of financing it received another $4 billion. Sources said, the company is now valued at $56 billion. The investments will be used for the global expansion of Didi, supporting new developments in the field of artificial intelligence and new energy vehicles.
According to Didi, it serves up to 25 million passengers a day.