Uber China raises billions

This week, the 5-year-old ride-sharing company demonstrated once again that its appetite for growth knows no bounds. On Tuesday, CEO Travis Kalanick said Uber's China unit would expand into 100 more cities within a year from the 20 in which it currently operates.

That's growth of 600 percent, blowing away the company's previously stated goal of expanding its foothold in the world's second-largest economy by 50 cities in 12 months.

Uber's transformation from nascent startup to a billion-dollar, multinational juggernaut has been one of the most rapid in Silicon Valley's history and the company is aiming to make China its No. 1 market worldwide.

In order to do that, it'll need money - something it also has in ample supply. On Monday, Kalanick said Uber's China unit had raised $1.2 billion (1.08 billion euros) from investors including the Internet giant Baidu.

More market share

Uber still has a ways to go before dominating China's Internet-linked transport market. Its main rival there, Didi Kuaidi, recently brought in $3 billion in its own funding round. Neither company is publicly listed, so the cash injections are particularly important to achieve their growth targets.

But Uber, according to Kalanick, already controls a 30- to 35-percent market share in China, up from 1 percent nine months ago.

The company's rapid growth hasn't been without controversy. In France, its low-cost UberPOP was the source of violent protests that saw conventional cab drivers attacking - and in some cases, torching - Uber cars.

Opponents say Uber is more than just a disruptive innovation that is revolutionizing the way people get from one place to another. They say the San Francisco-based company doesn't respect local regulations, making it impossible for taxi companies to compete.

cjc/uhe (Reuters, AFP, dpa)