Chinese taxi hailing app Didi Kuaidi (Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc.,) the combined company from previous competitors KuaiDi Dache and Didi Dache, is said to be seeking to raise atleast $1.5 billion.

According to Bloomberg Business, the first round for the newly combined company will be on a valuation of $15 billion.

Didi Kauidi itself came into existence in February after China’s two leading taxi hailing apps combined their resources to take on a nascent challenge presented by Uber, Inc.

The two companies still run separate apps despite now being a merged entity, and are said between them to hold anywhere between 78 percent to 95 percent market share in China, serving some 300 odd cities.

The news of the new round comes as it has been reported that Uber, Inc. is looking to invest $1 billion in China, a market in which it has been predicted by the company will become their largest possibly by the end of this year, despite currently only operating in only 11 Chinese cities.

Massive growth potential

The rising middle class in China, put conservatively at around the 400 million people mark, provides a massive growth potential for companies willing to cater for those with money to spend, and looking for modern conveniences such as ridesharing or even an easier way to hail a tradition taxi.

Didi Kuaidi has lagged behind Uber in the ridesharing space but has since launched a car-pooling service, but has not entered the pure, UberX style space, primarily due to legal restraints within the country itself.

Prior to their merger, Kuaidi Dache, as we reported back in February, had raised at least $725 million in funding from investors including SoftBank Internet and Media Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, New Horizon Capital and Matrix Partners.

Didi Dache raised $700 million from Temasek Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Russia’s DST Global in December.

The combined company has raised at least $1.425 billion to-date.

Between the two companies, they’re definitely are not short of cash, but likewise another $1.5 billion in the kitty to take on Uber certainly will not go astray.

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