This article only represents the author's own views.
China’s car-hailing and rideshare giants could be heading into battle this year, as the dominant platform faces a renewed challenge from its dethroned rival. DiDi Global (DIDIY.US), the onetime king of car-hailing services, is back on the battlefield, signing up new users again after being sidelined for more than a year by regulators. Meanwhile, Dida Inc., the ridesharing upstart that rose to fame during DiDi's demise, is looking to fill its war chest ready for a fresh round of rivalry. In late February Dida embarked on a third attempt to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, shortly after its competitor was cleared to resume user registrations.
Starting out as “Dida Pinche” in 2014, Dida was founded by Song Zhongjie, then a local director at Google China. Rather than going head to head with DiDi on car-hailing, the company aimed to open up a new market for sharing minibus rides. Dida added taxi-hailing services in 2017 and has expanded rapidly since then. By the end of last September, Dida had about 12.4 million certified private car owners on its books in 366 cities, making it China’s biggest ridesharing platform.