Uber rivals form international alliance
Uber's biggest international rivals announced yesterday that they are banding together to launch a counter-attack by linking their apps and effectively creating an international ride-hailing service. San Francisco's Lyft and Chinese start-up Didi Kuaidi said they have formed an alliance to allow users of each app to hail rides from drivers of the other app while they are travelling in the other country. This comes the week after we learned that Didi has invested $100m in Lyft. Furthermore, Lyft and Didi are also in discussions with two other big car-hailing services, India's Ola and Singapore's GrabTaxi, to expand the alliance, which means the international alliance would instantly have a significant presence in the US, China, India and South Asia.
If you can't beat em, join forces with another company who can help run em off the road.

Lyft, the friendlier, mustachioed alternative to Uber in the U.S., announced Wednesday that it has entered into a "global ridesharing alliance" with Didi Kuaidi, Uber's better positioned competitor in China, that will effectively launch Lyft in China and help beat back Uber in two key markets.

Didi Kuaidi has invested $100 million in Lyft as part of an earlier round of private financing. The two companies will also collaborate on technology and product development, making it possible for Lyft passengers to access Didi Kuaidi in China without changing apps and vice versa as part of the new strategic partnership.

"In today's rideshare environment, where every region presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities, partnering with the homegrown leader is the winning approach to Chinese expansion," John Zimmer, cofounder and president of Lyft, said in a statement.

"It's the first step toward global coverage, an easy and seamless way for both their users and our users to get wherever they need to go," Zimmer added at an event in New York attended by members of the U.S. and Chinese media and investors, including Alibaba and famed activist investor Carl Icahn. "We'll reflect the dynamics of each market."

John Zimmer, cofounder and president of Lyft, appears alongside his counterpart at Didi Kuaidi for a media event in New York to announce the strategic partnership on Wednesday. Credit:

The elephant in the room: Uber. The company was mentioned just once, dismissively, in the final minute of the event.

"Uber is a good competitor, but we feel really good about our position in China right now," Jean Liu, president of Didi Kuaidi, said in response to a question about how the partnership would help it take on Uber. "Although people already focus on the key industry players, we actually still think the industry is in its infant stage."

Multiple reports hinted at the investment last week. The tie-up gives Didi Kuaidi a stake in the hyper-competitive American taxi market and offers Lyft footing in Asia, where many American companies, including Uber, struggle to break into. Each company stands to benefit from the other's understanding of their respective country's cultures and regulatory environment.

Five years after Uber kickstarted the ride-hailing market, numerous competitors have attracted billions in venture capital to grab portions of the global industry. Uber, the first and best funded of the bunch, has bulldozed through regulators into hundreds of cities in an effort to gain quick global dominance and justify its lofty $50 billion valuation.

Lyft and Didi Kuaidi, by comparison, have until now focused their resources on building a firm presence in one large market each. Lyft's top execs were introduced to Didi Kuaidi through one of the latter's early investors. The two companies cozied up to each other earlier this year with one of Didi Kuaidi's execs spending two weeks at Lyft's office in San Francisco in March to scope it out.

Lyft has raised $1 billion in funding to date and Didi Kuaidi has raised more than $4 billion. That's still less combined than the roughly $8 billion that Uber has raised. But as Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick has admitted multiple times, Uber is still the underdog(opens in a new tab) in China. Didi Kuaidi is by far the market leader.

Throughout the past year, the ride-hailing market has seen consolidation and elimination.

Hailo, a well-funded member of the pack, retreated from North America after failing to gain traction. Didi merged with its rival Kuaidi to beat back Uber in China and Ola Cabs acquired competitor TaxiForSure to do the same in India.

Zimmer left the door open to similar partnerships with Ola and others in the future, in response to a question at the event. "We’ll announce different parts of our global strategy down the road," he said.