US Apple invests $1 bn in China taxi hailing app Didi

US tech giant Apple has raised its stakes in China by investing $1 billion in ride hailing app Didi Chuxin, the single largest investment received by the Chinese cab-service company. Didi said that it has received $1 billion in strategic investment from Apple. The investment from Apple is the single largest investment Didi has ever received. The investment is considered significant as Didi rivals US taxi hailing app Uber, state-run China Daily reported.

Apple is among a group of Chinese and international institutions that are bankrolling Didi's ambitious expansion plan in its latest fundraising round. Through this investment, Apple has become a strategic investor in Didi, and joins Tencent, Alibaba and other key supporters to help further Didi's mission of building a data-driven ride-sharing platform to serve hundreds of millions of Chinese drivers and passengers, the report said. "The endorsement from Apple is an enormous encouragement and inspiration for our four-year-old company,” CEO Didi Cheng Wei said.