Chinese search giant Baidu has invested in another two taxi-sharing apps, Tiantian Yongche and 51yongche.
Last December Baidu announced “a strategic investment and co-operation agreement” with Uber. It is keeping quiet about this month’s two deals, other than confirming they have happened.
Speculation centres around whether Baidu is planning to merge all its Chinese-based taxi-app interests into one brand or develop them independently. The two deals are also being seen in response to the mega-merger of Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache, China’s two biggest taxi app businesses by some distance.
Baidu’s internet competitors are also part of the taxi-app landscape in China – Kuaidi is backed by Alibaba; Didi by Tencent. This month’s two confirmed deals are smaller in scale. Tiantian Yongche is reported as a Series C investment, with Sequoia Capital also involved.
Despite no confirmation of how much was invested, reports say the Tiantian is now valued at $200 million. In comparison, the combined Kuaidi/Didi business is worth a reported $6 billion. Sequoia was also involved with Baidu in the Series C funding for 51yongche.
This business is less than a year old and the latest round is being reported in the “tens of millions of dollars” range.
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