Didi Chuxing will launch its DiDi Express service on June 25 in Melbourne, its third international market; the business will be run by a Didi subsidiary
following moves into Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil and (soon) Japan http://techcrunch.com/... Jon Russell / @jonrussell : What's really interesting about Didi entering Australia is that India's Ola, which Didi invested in, recently entered Australia, too. When you consider that Didi wasn't part of Ola's newest funding round last year, this could be another sign that the relationship is strained.
Context & Ripple Effects
Didi Chuxing has been building an international footprint on three different templates: acquisitions in Brazil, a franchise in Taiwan, and its first organic launch in Mexico this April. Melbourne on June 25 extends the organic playbook to a fourth structure — a wholly owned subsidiary running DiDi Express locally.
The awkward part is who is already there: Ola, which Didi backed via a 2015 stake, launched in Australia in January alongside Taxify. Jon Russell flags that Didi sat out Ola's most recent funding round, so the two investors are now competing head-to-head in the same city rather than dividing markets between them.
First-order effects
- Ola and Taxify face a new well-funded competitor in Melbourne from June 25, with Didi running the service through its own subsidiary rather than a local partner or franchisee.
Second-order effects
- Didi investing in Ola while directly entering Ola's newest market strains the alliance logic of minority stakes — portfolio companies can no longer assume their backers will cede geographies, a tension SoftBank's multi-company ride-hailing portfolio also has to manage.
Third-order effects
- If Didi keeps choosing direct entry over partner-led growth — as it later did by launching in Chile and Colombia (Latin America expansion) — the global ride-hailing map shifts from an alliance-of-regionals model toward a few vertically operated giants competing everywhere.
The trend: Ride-hailing is moving from cross-border investment alliances toward direct multinational operation, forcing investor relationships like Didi-Ola to double as competitive rivalries.