Didi Dache
 | |
Native name | 北京小桔科技有限公司 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mobile application |
| Founded | June, 2012 |
| Founder | Chéng Wéi (程维) |
| Headquarters | Beijing, China |
Area served | China |
Key people |
Chéng Wéi (Chairman and CEO) Liu Qing (President) |
| Products | Taxi-calling application |
| Website | www.xiaojukeji.com |
Didi Dache (Chinese: 滴滴打车; literally: "Didi Taxi Calling") is a mobile platform taxi-calling application developed by Chinese mobile application company Beijing Xiaoju Keji Co., Ltd.[1][2][3] The application is one of the major taxi apps in China, with over 100 million users in more than 300 cities. It was established in June 2012.[4]
In February 2015, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache announced they would merge to create one of the world’s largest smartphone-based transport service companies, worth around $6 billion.[5] It was not clear whether the merger may have violated China anti-monopoly law.
In December 2015, taxi drivers protested against Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache. Both companies were forced to close their offices in the city of Luoyang.
Competitor Uber
Uber entered the Chinese market in August 2013. However, Uber is losing over 1 billion dollars a year to compete with Didi Dache and Kuai di Dache.[6] The two local Chinese apps estimated that they control 80% of the Taxi and private calling services. China is the biggest market in the world. Uber is trying to get in the game and they are putting more money and resources to keep up with Didi Dache. Uber is doing well in America, but they are losing a lot of money in China. Backers of the taxi apps, Tencent and Alibaba are rivals with China's biggest search engine Baidu, who is funding Uber to fight Didi Dache. While Baidu is competing against Didi Dache with Uber, Baidu is also fighting against Alibaba and Tencent directly.[7] Didi ultimately acquired Uber's China operations in July 2016.[8]
Expansion
In 2015 Didi Dache decided to merge with Kuai Di Dache. The combination of these two company generated a new 6 billion dollar net worth company. The two company decided to combine but would continue to operate separately. The expansion of the two company attracted more riders and drivers. The company has more money to upgrade both apps and services. The company can also expand travel distances and options. When Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache realized that Uber will try to step into China, the two founders stopped their brutal war and went into a secret negotiation. The two founders felt pressure and insecurity so they finally decided to merge into one company. When the two companies merged, Alibaba and Tencent worked together to back the company with money and technology. For example, Tencent can aid the company with funding and with the app Wechat for advertisement and calling for taxi. Alibaba backed the company with funding and Alipay. The backers are not only funding Didi Kuaidi but they are aiding the company with technology as well.[7]
Founder of Didi Dache
Cheng Wei is the founder of Didi Dache. He was an eight-year veteran employee in Alibaba. He left the company three years ago in order to create his own company Didi Dache because he was not able to catch cabs very often. When China is experiencing rush hour most taxis are full and as a result most of the time he cannot catch a cab. Most importantly he missed several flights because he could not hail a cab on time. When the app Didi Dache came to be, it took Cheng 40 days to pester taxi drivers to use the app.The company was backed by China’s giant Tencent in November 2012.[9] A 15 million dollar funding was provided by Tencent. However, Kuaidi Dache was backed by Alibaba and the two rivals are fighting against each other.[6]
New company
The new company composed of Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache is called Didi Kuaidi. They are currently worth over 16 billion dollars. Since Didi Kuaidi is the rival of Uber other companies like lyft are in an alliance with Didi Kuaidi. Didi kuaidi is also linked to an app call Wechat. Wechat has about 650 million active users every month. People can easily access the taxi app using Wechat. Since Tencent is the developer and owner of Wechat, linking Didi KuaiDi and Wechat can be done without conflicts. According to Uber’s data, Didi Kuaidi generates about 7 million rides a day. The company has also generated 1.43 billion rides in 2015. Didi Kuaidi has many apps under the name of its company. Tencent and Alibaba’s apps are all open to allied developers like Lyft.[10]
History
Didi Dache was first founded in June 2012. The founder of Didi Dache is Cheng Wei. The president of the company is Liu Qing. The app serves 300 major cities in China. Cheng Wei was the founder of the app but BeiJing XiaoJun developed the app. XiaoJun is a BeiJing mobile application development company. The mobile application company continued to work with Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache when they merged into one company. Tencent and Alibaba also continues to aid the app with both resources and money.[6]
References
- ↑ "Company Overview of Beijing Xiaoju Keji Co., Ltd.". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ↑ C. Custer (November 5, 2014). "China's taxi app market breaks 150 million users, and it's totally dominated by two apps". Tech in Asia. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
- ↑ Usman W. Chohan (April 2014). "Dididache 嘀嘀打车 - Hailing the Future, One Cab at a Time". McGill University Economic Publications.
- ↑ Steven Millward (December 9, 2014). "China's Didi Dache raises $700M, becomes 2nd most well-funded taxi app in the world". Tech in Asia. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
- ↑ "China taxi apps Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache announce $6 billion tie-up" (Press release). Reuters. 14 February 2015.
- 1 2 3 "Uber Is Burning Through $1 Billion a Year in China". Fortune. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
- 1 2 "China taxi apps Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache announce $6 billion tie-up".
- ↑ "Uber Sells China Operations to Didi Chuxing".
- ↑ "WSJ".
- ↑ Russell, Jon. "Didi Dache, One Of China's Two Dominant Taxi App Firms, Closes $700M Series D Round". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-04-02.