Chinese ride-sharing platform T3 raises $1.2 billion in Series A funding to expand

Chinese ride-sharing platform T3 raises $1.2 billion (7.7 billion Yuan) in Series A funding, the largest ever investment for a ride-hailing company in China since 2018.

Nanjing-based ride-hailing company T3 Chuxing raises 7.7 billion Yuan ($1.2 billion) from a group of investors led by state-backed conglomerate CITIC Group, as its bigger rival— Didi Global, a ride-sharing company backed by SoftBank Group, continues to be burdened by a regulatory crackdown.

T3 Chuxing operates in 41 cities and has more than 54 million registered users. The company said the daily orders for rides exceeded 2 million for the first time on September 30, more than double its daily peak in the second quarter.

T3 Chuxing, in a press release, said that it would use the funding to increase its investment in user service improvement, product innovation, technology R&D, and autonomous driving. The company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with CITIC Investment Holdings to build a new intelligent travel ecosystem.

T3’s latest funding round comes as ride-sharing companies step forth to take market share from China’s market leader Didi Global Inc., which is facing a cyber-security investigation by Chinese authorities. T3, and other ride-hailing companies, including Meituan and Geely’s Caocao Chuxing, offer promotions to attract more users to their platforms.