Chinese ride-hailing platform T3 is close to securing RMB 5 billion ($775 million) in a funding rounding led by state-owned financial conglomerate Citic Group, Chinese media LatePost (in Chinese) reported Thursday, citing three unnamed sources.
Why it matters: Didi’s rivals, especially those funded by state-owned enterprises, have received a new wave of investment since the nation’s leading ride-hailer was put under a cybersecurity review in July.
Details: Two sources told LatePost that investment firms are “very enthusiastic” about this new opportunity in China’s ride-hailing market. “Firms have placed investment biddings of more than ten billion yuan,” the sources told LatePost.
Headquartered in the eastern city of Nanjing, T3 was launched in July 2019 with backing from state-owned automakers FAW, Dongfeng, and Changan, as well as tech giants Alibaba and Tencent.
In August, T3 completed, on average, more than 1.2 million trips per day, a 70% increase from December, the report said. T3 still lags far behind dominant player Didi, which averaged 20 million trips in the same month.
A spokesperson for T3 declined to comment on the report when contacted by TechNode on Friday and said the news should be “subject to the company’s official announcement.”
Context: Cao Cao Mobility, the ride-hailing unit of Chinese private automaker Geely, raised RMB 3.8 billion from investors led by a group of state-owned enterprises in early September.
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