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Photo credit: toonartist / 123RF.

Didi, China’s top ride-hailing startup, today revealed it has secured US$5.5 billion in funding. The investors were not disclosed. The money is to “support its global strategy and continued investments in AI-based technologies,” the startup said in a brief statement.

With this, Didi has raised just over US$18 billion from investors since it got series A in 2012. The service last year claimed to be profitable in 230 of the 300 cities where it operated. It now covers more than 400 Chinese cities and has around 400 million users.

It comes just a day after rumors of a US$6 billion round that would value Didi at US$50 billion, making it China’s second most valuable startup behind Alibaba spin-off Ant Financial.

Since acquiring Uber’s China unit last August, Didi has invested in a similar app in Brazil and opened a Silicon Valley lab focused on artificial intelligence.

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