Baidu and electric vehicle startup NIO lead $195M investment in Chinese limo booking app –
Summary
Chinese internet giant Baidu is continuing its push into the automotive space after it led a RMB 1.3 billion ($195 million) Series B investment in Shouqi Limousine & Chauffeur, an offshoot of the state-owned Shouqi Group which was Beijing’s first licensed ride-hailing app. Right now, Shouqi claims a fleet of 60,000 cars which cover 53 cities and districts across China. Those figures are dwarfed by Didi — which claims over 450 million users — but Shouqi said its limousine and chauffeur business has seen success thanks to the fact that it adheres to China’s ride-hailing regulations. It also plans to go after ring artificial intelligence into its service using Baidu’s DuerOS platform and NIO’s smarts. Shouq was valued at $750 million when it closed the first portion of the round in July but there’s no update on that figure following the closure of this second installment.