Lyft and Didi Kuaidi Announce Strategic Partnership, Building Toward a Collaborative Global Ridesharing Alliance

SAN FRANCISCO and BEIJING, Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Lyft and Didi Kuaidi today announced Didi Kuaidi has made a strategic investment of $100 million in Lyft. Additionally, the two companies have entered into a strategic partnership that will leverage each company's technological strengths, product development expertise, rich local market knowledge and vast resources to bring seamless ridesharing to the U.S. and China. 

Didi Kuaidi's investment came as part of a financing round led by Rakuten earlier this year that also included Carl Icahn, Alibaba and Tencent. With this investment, Didi Kuaidi has joined leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management and others in supporting Lyft's long-term growth.

Under the partnership, the two parties will launch in-depth collaboration between their technology and product development teams, to achieve synergies in product innovation and enhance user experiences. Adding to the combined power of their advanced algorithm systems and ride-matching capabilities, 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.

As part of the alliance, Lyft and Didi Kuaidi will launch cross-platform interoperability so their existing users can access local on-demand transportation services offered by the partner company from their native applications when they are traveling in the U.S. and China. The number of visits between the two countries totaled more than 7.8 million[1] in 2014 and continues to experience double-digit growth. The global coverage partnership will improve users' international travel experience and boost each partner's global market impact.

"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."

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. Didi Kuaidi is the clear market leader in China and has invaluable local expertise. In today's rideshare environment, where every region presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities, partnering with the homegrown leader is the winning approach to Chinese expansion."

Jean Liu, president of Didi Kuaidi, said, "Lyft is the pioneer in ridesharing innovation and Didi Kuaidi has built success with a unique model that offers comprehensive transportation solutions in more than 360 Chinese cities. Today we offer private car, carpooling, bus, chauffeur and taxi hailing services to more than 200 million users in China. These along with other connected services will extend to Lyft's passengers. More importantly, the partnership with Lyft enables us to join forces in rapidly advancing global innovation and growth."

About Lyft
Lyft was founded to reconnect people and communities through better transportation. Co-founded in June 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer, Lyft is the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S. Available in 65 cities, Lyft is preferred by drivers and passengers for its safe and friendly experience, and its commitment to affecting positive change for the future of our cities. 

About Didi Kuaidi
Didi Kuaidi is the world's largest one-stop mobile transportation platform giving every passenger the chance to find the kind of journey they want for their commute. From an original focus on connecting taxi drivers with passengers, Didi Kuaidi has now expanded its service, including taxi hailing, private car, carpooling and bus sharing, to 360 cities in China through its mobile apps, servicing 200 million people in total. We currently process approximately 3 million private car orders and 3 million taxi rides each day, representing over 80% of the private car service market and over 90% of the taxi hailing service market in China. Didi Kuaidi's one-stop transportation platform, supported by its strong big data capability, is designed to make cities more accessible and efficient. While helping China to meet the fast growing demand on transportation, Didi Kuaidi aims to change the way people commute, reduce the number of cars on our streets, and ease traffic problems and pollution in our cities through innovation and better allocation of resources.

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[1] According to the International Trade Administration

SOURCE Lyft