A taxi is reflected in a window at the office of taxi-hailing service Uber Inc in Hong Kong, China August 12, 2015. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc’s [UBER.UL] China arm has closed its $1 billion fundraising round early, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, with investors still hopeful for the U.S.-based ride service despite strong domestic competition in the car-hailing market. Investors in Uber’s Chinese unit include Hillhouse Capital, Asia’s biggest hedge fund, Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc, China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd, China Life Insurance Co Ltd, Ping An Insurance Group Co of China among others, said one of the people. A spokeswoman for Uber declined to comment. The deal was oversubscribed, said the second source directly familiar with the fundraising. According to a fundraising document seen by Reuters last week, this round values Uber China at $7 billion, with the unit planning to list on the mainland by 2020. Reporting by Paul Carsten and Engen Tham, additional reporting by Shu Zhang; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli
Uber has announced that it has finished raising $1bn to expand its efforts in China. The cash was raised from Chinese hedge fund Hillhouse Capital, Asian search engine Baidu, and Asian investment bank Citic, among other groups. The news comes two months after Uber China formally launched its fundraising plans, so this was not a particularly fast process in Uber-terms. This could be explained by local reports suggesting that investors were wary about backing Uber"s China-specific branch because the Asian government has a track record of antagonistic relationships with American companies.