Apple Investee Didi Chuxing Says It Is About To Raise More Cash Than Uber's $3.5 Billion Saudi Deal

But of course.

First some housekeeping. The article refers to the "Saudi round" but technically the Saudis came in as part of Uber's ongoing Series "G" with the $62.5 billion valuation. Although truth be told, no one knows what terms, perks or guarantees the Saudis got in addition to the board seat.

No word either on whether Lyft or Gett are going for some Dr. Evil size: "One billion, gagillion, fafillion, shabolubalu million illion yillion..." [yen]*

From Fortune:

Didi Is Raising Billions of Dollars In Its Next Fundraising Round
More than Uber’s newly announced $3.5 billion round.

Jean Liu, president of Chinese on-demand transportation giant Didi Chuxing, said on Wednesday that the company is currently raising money.

A lot of money. More money, in fact, than American ride-hailing rival Uber raised from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in its latest $3.5 billion round, announced earlier today.

“After this we’ll be one of the best capitalized private companies,” she told an audience of technologists at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Liu appeared onstage with Anthony Tan, CEO of Grab, the top ride-hailing service in Southeast Asia.

It’s a remarkable admission for a company that in May raised $1 billion from Apple AAPL -1.45% , the American tech giant long rumored to be working on a vehicle.

“Our industry is in a very early stage,” she said. “So the more capital that goes into it, the faster it grows.” Didi had already raised $5 billion before its current round.

With Apple clearly in mind, Liu said Didi was searching for the most strategic, value-adding partner. “There’s huge room to grow,” she said. “But you can’t just grow yourself. You need a lot of strategic help.”...MORE

*That's the Doctor's ultimatum in "...Goldmember", about which Wikipedia says:

 "This time his demand is met with simple confusion from the world leaders."

Which is about where I'm at when I recall Carl Icahn putting $100 mil into Lyft and my thinking that was a big deal.
Hah!

Possibly of interest, prior uses of the Doc Evil schtick:
Dec. 2015 
Uber To Raise $2 Billion In Round Valuing Company at One Trillion Dollars
May 2015
Carl Icahn Invests $100 Million in Uber Competitor, Lyft

And more recently:
May 2016
"Apple invests $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing" (AAPL)
June 1
"Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5 Billion Cash Infusion"

And dozens more, use the 'search blog' box if interested.