Uber China Raises Fresh Funds At $7 Bln Valuation

Uber on Monday announced that its China unit has closed a funding round that valued it at $7 billion. Uber's chief executive officer Travis Kalanick made the announcement at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

The Chinese division receives support from HNA Group, operator of China’s fourth-largest airline; China Taiping Insurance Holdings; Guangzhou Automobile Group; China Life Insurance, the nation's largest insurer; and Citic Securities, a Chinese investment bank. 

The company also said that it has increased its share of the private car market in China to 30 percent or 35 percent as of the end of 2015, from 1 percent in January last year. Till date, Uber has committed to invest 6.3 billion yuan ($958.61 million) in China, with the country Uber's "largest market globally and a key strategic hub", Kalanick said, as reported by Reuters.

"We are investing in China for the long term", he added.

Uber raised $2.1 billion last month and was last valued at $62.5 billion, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Uber China’s $7 billion valuation does not include the new cash. 

The ride-hailing service is facing stiff competition from others in the business. Last month four major rideshare services – Lyft, Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi and Ola – entered into a strategic partnership to leverage each other's technology, local market knowledge and business resources to reach out to almost 50 percent of world population.