Didi's Self-Driving Unit Aims Fund Raise At $6B Valuation Ahead Of IPO

SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY SFTBF-backed Chinese ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing Technology Co’s autonomous driving unit is planning to raise roughly $500 million at a $6 billion valuation, Bloomberg reports.
The fundraise will help accelerate mass production of driverless vehicles and invest in artificial intelligence chips before Didi goes public by the next quarter targeting a valuation of over $62 billion.
The listing plans of the Uber Technologies Inc UBER rival got preponed from late 2021, thanks to the vaccine-led recovery from the pandemic.
The self-driving unit completed a $300 million fundraising round last month. The current fundraising plans are at early stages and could change.
The company began testing autonomous vehicles in 2016 before spinning off the business in 2019, targeting over one million autonomous taxis by 2030.
Didi Freight, another spinoff that offering on-demand logistics services, is contemplating another fundraising round shortly after raising $1.5 billion at a post-money valuation of $3 billion. The unit competes with Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHY-backed Full Truck Alliance.
Price action: SFTBY shares are trading lower by 0.46% at $41.93 on the last check Monday.