Chinese taxi app gains $600 million investment from Softbank, Alibaba: source
A man holding an umbrella walks past the logo of Softbank Corp at its branch in Tokyo April 22, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Yuya Shino
TOKYO (Reuters) – Chinese taxi-hailing application operator Travice Inc has received a combined investment of some 70 billion yen ($600 million) from Japan‘s SoftBank Corp, Alibaba and others, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
SoftBank, Japan’s No.3 mobile carrier, plans to announce the investment later in the day, the source told Reuters.
The new funding was first reported by the Nikkei business daily.
SoftBank spokeswoman Mariko Osada declined to comment.
In other investments in taxi hailing apps, SoftBank said last year it will lead an investment round of about 25 billion yen in India’s ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd.
The company also invested about 30 billion yen in GrabTaxi, a Southeast Asian mobile taxi booking app last year.
(Reporting by Shida Yoshiyasu; Writing by Teppei Kasai; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Stephen Coates)