The ride-hailing arm of Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor Corp has raised over 1.3 billion yuan ($179.9 million) in a Series C funding round from industry investors and local government funds to scale up its operations across China.
Xiangdao Chuxing (享道出行), an online platform that offers ride-hailing services to both individual and corporate clients, did not name its Series C investors in a Friday announcement. But it shared that the new financing will accelerate its move towards a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO).
Officially launched in late 2018, Xiangdao hit the unicorn valuation of over $1 billion in August 2022, when it secured more than 1 billion yuan ($138.4 million) in a Series B round from investors including SAIC Motor Corp and Chinese autonomous driving tech developer Momenta. Its earlier investors also include China’s Alibaba Group and battery giant CATL, which together backed its Series A round of over 300 million yuan ($41.5 million) in December 2020.
“The significance of this Series C round is beyond capital support. It also enables our greater access to industry resources,” said Xiangdao’s CEO Ni Licheng.
He said that Xiangdao’s three funding rounds have advanced strategically the company’s strengths in areas including travel data collection, smart auto technologies, and ride-hailing ecosystem building. These investments enable Xiangdao to carve out “a sustainable growth path” fueled by advanced tech, commercial applications, and ecosystem resources, said Ni.
The new financing is expected to fast-track Xiangdao’s commercialisation of smart mobility solutions and large-scale operation of robotaxi services.
Specifically, the completion of the Series C round will see Xiangdao invest further in technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), smart transportation, and intelligent ride-sharing safety control. It plans to double down on its three core business lines of individual ride-hailing services, corporate car rental solutions, and robotaxis.
Xiangdao said that its ride-hailing business for individual clients is expected to book a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 30% in the five years from 2021-25, with an existing service network covering almost 100 cities in China. The Series C round will allow Xiangdao’s individual ride-hailing services to consolidate its market position domestically, while exploring expansion overseas.
Under the corporate car rental business, Xiangdao’s fleet of over 25,000 vehicles has served some 5,000 corporate clients across 150 Chinese cities.
