Lyft announces partnership with Didi Kuaidi

Lyft, a San Francisco-based ridesharing app, has recently announced that it is entering into partnership with the world's largest one-stop mobile transportation platform, Didi Kuaidi.

Announcing the partnership, John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft, said: "Lyft was founded with the mission of connecting people and their communities through improved transportation. We are extremely excited to partner with Didi Kuaidi as they share our commitment to redesign cities putting people at the forefront." 

As part of the alliance, Didi has invested $100 million in Lyft, in a financing round led by Rakuten earlier this year that also included Carl Icahn, Alibaba and Tencent. With this investment, Didi Kuaidi has joined the list of leading investors that includes Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management and others in supporting Lyft's long-term growth.

“Partnering with Didi, the only company that provides complete coverage in all major Chinese cities, is the best way to provide a simple, seamless experience when people travel to China and the United States”, the blog post read.

Lyft and Didi Kuaidi will also share local knowledge and other business-related resources to explore new models of cross-platform and cross-regional market development, with an aim to build a healthy, collaborative global ridesharing industry. They will launch cross-platform interoperability that will enable their existing users to access local on-demand transportation services offered by the partner company from their native applications when they are travelling in the U.S. and China.

"Didi Kuaidi is excited to form this groundbreaking collaboration with Lyft, the first company to develop a peer-to-peer service," said Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Kuaidi. "From our home base in China, Didi Kuaidi is building China's largest one-stop on-demand transportation service platform. As the industry innovation leader, Lyft will continue to build upon its existing market and brand power."

Cheng Wei continued, "Didi Kuaidi deeply admires Lyft's commitment to best serve their driver and passenger communities. Like Lyft, we focus on activating the power of local resources and expertise in the true spirit of building a global sharing economy. We will continue to cherish and focus on our home base while sharing financial, technological and market resources to achieve a shared goal of building the most efficient, sustainable and diversified global transportation ecosystem."