--FILE -- un auto corre passato un cartello del taxi-salutando app Uber nella città di Guangzhou, Cina del sud della provincia di Guangdong, 23 settembre 2015. Uber è l
--FILE--A car runs past a signboard of the taxi-hailing app Uber in Guangzhou city, south China's Guangdong province, 23 September 2015. Uber is looking to raise as much as $2.5bn for its China unit, doubling the amount the company has already raised for its cash-burning operations in the worlds most populous country. The San Francisco based ride-hailing company is locked in fierce competition with its Chinese rival, Didi Kuaidi, which raised $3bn in a round that closed earlier this month. As both companies use incentives to attract drivers and riders, the race for market share hinges on who can raise the most cash. The investors in Ubers China unit include Baidu, the Chinese search company, while Didis backers include Tencent and Alibaba. Uber has been fundraising for its China unit since June at a pre-money valuation of $7bn, and earlier this month said that it had closed $1.2bn as part of that round. Expanding the round to raise $2.5bn underscores how much cash Uber is prepared to pour in to the Chinese market, which has historically been unkind to foreign tech companies. Uber said this year that it would invest $1bn this year in China, which chief executive Travis Kalanick described as one of the largest untapped opportunities for Uber, potentially larger than the US.
