两家叫车服务平台过去一年都筹集了数百亿美元资金。
If you listen closely, you might be able to hear something that sounds like the continents shifting and grinding together, deep under the earth’s crust. Is there an earthquake coming? No, that’s just the sound of massive piles of cash being moved—the vast sums of money that Uber and its Chinese rival Didi Chuxing are stockpiling for their battle to own the global ride-hailing market.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Uber raised $3.5 billion in financing from the investment fund belonging to Saudi Arabia’s royal family as part of a total financing worth $5 billion, one of the largest funding rounds ever raised by a venture-backed company. That investment brought the total raised by Uber to more than $10 billion, and gave it a theoretical market value of about $62 billion.
Now there are reports that Uber is raising as much as $2 billion more, but this time it is doing so via the debt market, a somewhat more risky endeavor than the equity or venture-capital markets. One reason it may be doing so is to avoid diluting its existing equity value for existing investors, in advance of a possible initial public offering of stock next year. A debt issue of this kind also means it doesn’t have to publicly release its financial information.
Not to be outdone, Didi Chuxing just finished raising $7 billion in funding from a group of investors that includes Apple and China’s top life insurance company. The round consisted of $4.5 billion in equity funding and $2.5 billion in debt, and gives the Uber competitor a theoretical market value of about $28 billion.
But Didi’s strongest card in this rapidly accelerating game of automotive chicken may not be its growing cash hoard. The company, which was created last year by the merger of two competing taxi-hailing apps, also has some extremely powerful local investors—including China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba and its social-networking behemoth Tencent. Both reportedly put money into the latest round, and they clearly have the resources to finance a significant battle. Start your engines.
如果仔细聆听，大家也许能听到地壳深处大陆板块漂移挤压的声音。是要地震了吗?非也。那不过是两大堆资金挪动的声音，更准确点说是优步及其中国竞争对手滴滴出行为争夺全球叫车服务市场筹集巨款。
就在几周前，沙特皇室旗下的投资基金向优步投资35亿美元，优步本轮融资规模已达50亿美元，成为风投支持的公司有史以来筹集金额最大的一次。优步的总融资额也因此突破100亿美元，理论上市场价值达到约620亿美元。
目前有报道称，优步还要再融资20亿美元，不过是从债券市场，债市融资比从股市或私募市场融资风险多少要大一些。优步之所以考虑这种方式，一个原因可能是为避免摊薄现有投资者手中的权益价值，因为明年该公司有可能上市。此外，优步采取的债务融资方式发债无需公布财务数据。
不甘落于下风的滴滴出行也刚刚向一群投资者筹集了70亿美元资金，包括苹果公司和中国最大的寿险公司。滴滴此轮融资包括45亿美元的股票和25亿美元的债券，其理论市场价值达到280亿美元左右。
然而，在这场愈演愈烈的汽车界懦夫博弈中，滴滴的王牌不见得是持续增长的资金储备。滴滴由两家曾相互竞争的叫车服务商合并而成，背后的投资者有一些实力相当深厚，其中包括中国电子商务巨擘阿里巴巴和社交网络巨无霸腾讯。据报道，阿里和腾讯都参与了滴滴的最新一轮融资，而且两家的资源顶住一场大仗显然不成问题。号角已吹响，点火发动引擎吧。
