Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi seeking to raise $4 billion in IPO

American ride-hailing giant Uber has competition and it’s no surprise that it comes from China.

Based in China, Didi Global Inc., a similar technology company that wants to expand to other markets and businesses, is hoping the raise a ballpark figure of $4 billion through its initial public offering.

If fulfilled, the company’s valuation will skyrocket to somewhere between $62 billion to $67 billion.

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On offer from Didi are 288 million American depositary shares at $13 to $14 each, according to its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Even if all the shares sell at the midpoint, the company would bag $3.9 billion, which would rank it as the second-biggest IPO of the year so far behind Coupang Inc. 

Furthermore, Didi could reach a fully diluted valuation of more than $70 billion, the Wall Street Journal has reported, making the company’s market value No. 2 behind ride-hailing leader Uber Technologies Inc. 

The 9-year-old company — which also offers taxi hailing, delivery and more — will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DIDI.

In its filing, Didi specified it has hundreds of millions of riders in China and operates in 16 countries and nearly 4,000 cities. Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Uber said in its 2020 annual report that as of December 31, 2020, it operated in 71 countries and about 10,000 cities

Besides ride hailing, Didi’s new services include intra-city freight, community group buying and food delivery.

One thing Didi has in common with Uber (and smaller rival Lyft) is that it has also been mostly unprofitable. But it did turn a profit in the first quarter, reporting a net income of $837 million on revenue of $6.44 billion.

However, the profit was largely due to its investments.