Uber and Didi’s Cash Race

The cash being raised by the world’s top two ride-sharing companies, Uber and China-based Didi Chuxing, is breaking records for private-company financing. Last week Uber said it had raised $3.5 billion from a Saudi Arabia fund, bringing its 2016 fundraising total to $5.7 billion, according to Datafox. Almost immediately Didi’s president chimed in at the Code Conference to say her company was also in the process of raising billions. 

And these follow billions of dollars already raised by both companies in the past couple of years (see above chart). The two companies outrank most other private tech firms in money raised: Uber is first, with $13.3 billion in equity raised, while Didi is third, with $4.4 billion raised, according to Datafox.