BEIJING — Caocao Chuxing, the ride-hailing arm of automaker Geely, took in billions of yuan (a nine-figure dollar amount) in a recent funding deal, a source told 36Kr. The investment is China’s first domestic equity deal in the ride-hailing industry this year.
Hangzhou Youxing Technology, which operates Caocao Chuxing, adjusted its share structure on Aug. 4, adding Zhejiang Geely Holding Group as a new shareholder, according to Tianyancha, an enterprise information query platform.
Meanwhile, Caocao Chuxing’s registered capital increased from around 366 million yuan ($56.58 million) to around 433 million yuan.
Geely Technology Group is currently Caocao Chuxing’s largest shareholder, with a 77.33% stake, and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is the second largest, holding 15.42% of the company’s shares and subscribed capital contribution of 66.721 million yuan.
Established in 2015, Caocao Chuxing provides ride-hailing services in 62 cities across China.
Chinese in July ordered more than 776 million rides across the country, up 10.7% from June, according to statistics from China’s National Ride-Hailing Supervision Information Interactive Platform.
Meanwhile, app downloads for Caocao Chuxing in July hit 909,610, up 99% from June, according to data aggregator Qimai. Downloads for July 5 reached 41,185.
For the past two years, China’s ride-hailing sector has suffered through a capital winter, forced to adapt to a significantly slower pace of financing.
The latest funding round indicates that investors might have identified new opportunities in this space, possibly due to the Cyberspace Administration of China’s cybersecurity investigation into Didi. With the country’s largest app-based ride provider unable to sustain continued growth during the probe, rival platforms are keen to take advantage of the situation.
Caocao offered no comment when 36Kr attempted to confirm the financing deal. Chinese media outlets previously reported that Caocao Chuxing had completed its Series B funding round, but the company has not confirmed the news.
Earlier, Caocao Chuxing closed two funding rounds. In January 2018, it received 1 billion yuan from Silicon Paradise Asset Management, Zheshang Venture Capital and Longqi Capital. Four months later, it won another investment, of an undisclosed sum, from Zheshang Venture Capital.
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