SoftBank led $500M investment in Didi in China’s biggest autonomous driving round

SoftBank led $500M investment in Didi in China’s biggest autonomous driving round

3 years ago
Anonymous $-9GJQVHNr8

https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/29/softbank-pours-500m-into-didi-in-chinas-biggest-autonomous-driving-round/

The race to automate vehicles on China’s roads is heating up. Didi, the Uber of China, announced this week an outsized investment of over $500 million in its freshly minted autonomous driving subsidiary. Leading the round — the single largest fundraising round in China’s autonomous driving sector — is its existing investor Softbank, the Japanese telecom giant and startup benefactor that has also backed Uber.

The proceeds came through Softbank’s second Vision Fund, which was reportedly lagging in fundraising as its Fund I recorded massive losses in part due to the collapsing valuation of WeWork.