Didi’s plans to take over the world & more

Welcome to our weekly news highlights, the place where you‘ll find the most important information in the urban mobility space. Follow us to keep updated, we post every Tuesday! Here is what happened last week:

Kuaidi Taxi app becomes Didi Hong Kong

As one of its latest international expansion projects, Didi Chuxing has now rebranded Kuaidi’s Taxi app to “Didi Hong Kong”. The app is said to be used by nearly half of the total taxi drivers in Hong Kong, serving more than 600,000 passengers. Users from Didi in China can also now use their own app to hail a taxi in Hong Kong.

Read more here:

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-02-06/didi-eyes-growth-with-taiwan-deal-new-hong-kong-app-101208130.html

Didi and Softbank eye Japan’s ride-hailing market

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and Japan’s SoftBank have decided to enter the Japanese ride-hailing market. Given the highly regulated environment in Japan, Didi and SoftBank are said to be working on deploying a platform using its “deep learning-based demand prediction and smart dispatch systems” to improve taxi e-hailing efficiency.

The partners will engage with local industry practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders to build a platform suitable for all Japanese taxi operators, according to DiDi.

Their initiative will compete with JapanTaxi, a ride-hailing application currently working with Japan’s largest Taxi companies.

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Didi Chuxing partners up with 12 automakers

Didi Chuxing makes the headlines once again. The Chinese startup announced a new partnership with 12 automakers to launch a carsharing platform. The carsharing platform will work with electric vehicles only. Among the 12 companies are: Renault, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Kia, Chang’an Automobile, BAIC and JAC Motors.

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Yandex and Uber complete merger

The merger between Uber Russia and Yandex.Taxi is finally official. The merger values the new company at $3.8 billion, post money. The merger is held 59.3% by Yandex and 36.9% by Uber. Yandex.Taxi’s ex-CEO, Tigran Khudaverdyan, has now been appointed the CEO of the merger to lead operations in Russia and neighbouring countries. Uber and Yandex.Taxi users will be able to use their native applications to get a ride.

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JapanTaxi gets money from Toyota

Japan’s ride-hailing market has attracted the attention of Didi and SoftBank — the duo announced plans to launch a consumer-facing ride-hailing application. On the other hand, current leading ride-hailing application in Japan, JapanTaxi , has gotten an new investment. Toyota has invested $69 million dollars to maintain its position as number one. It is no surprise all eyes are in Japan’s ridehailing market, given that its size is $15 billion per year.

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Uber settles Waymo suit

Uber has agreed to settle the trade secret theft lawsuit. At a valuation of $72 billion, Waymo will get approximately $244 millions in Uber’s stock, making the autonomous market even more intertwined. The settlement includes the guarantee that Uber will not use any of Waymo’s self driving technology in their autonomous unit.

CityScoot raises $40million

Paris-based scooter sharing startup, Scoot, has raised €40 million from RATP Capital Innovation, InVenture Partners and existing investors with plans of expansion to other cities in France, Italy and Switzerland.

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Astria and GDN fund Go-jek

Astra International has announced it will join the latest financing round raised by Go-Jek. Astra’s investment will be $150 million while Global Digital Niaga (GDN) will invest around $100 million in the Indonesian unicorn.

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