Didi gets 7.3 bln USD funding, holds over 10 bln cash in fight with Uber

BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- On-demand mobility (ODM) service Didi said Thursday that it had secured 7.3 billion U.S.dollars in equity and debt financing, ramping up the Beijing startup's cash pile to 10.5 billion dollars.

Didi raised 4.5 billion dollars in equity financing, including1 1 billion dollars from Apple and 300 million dollars from China  Life Insurance. It also counts earlier backers such as Alibaba, and its financial spin-off Ant Financial, Tencent, China Merchants Bank and SoftBank as participants in its latest round of equity financing.

The company also secured 2.5 billion dollars in syndicated loans led by China Merchants Bank and 2 billion yuan (around 300 million dollars) in long term debt from China Life Insurance.

Rival Uber announced earlier this month a 3.5 billion dollar funding injection from the investment arm of Saudi Arabia. Didi said the funding, which is the largest amount it has raised since it merged two separate firms in early 2015, will be spent on technology upgrade for its online platform to match transportation demands with drivers, data mining and business expansion in China and overseas.