Didi Kuaidi, the Beijing-based mobile platform taxi-calling application that has been dubbed "China's Uber," is expected to raise about $3 billion in a new investment deal.
The company's funding plans will value the company at $16.5 billion, Forbes reports, making it one of the world's most important mobile transportation applications. Several analysts predicted that Didi Kuaidi's deal would rake in $2 billion, but that figure has now been surpassed.
Didi Kuaidi, which will have $4 billion in available cash resources after the deal's closure, is likely to use the funds to expand into other Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand. The application already has a strong following in cities across China.
Uber, which confirmed on Tuesday that it raised $1.2 billion in funding with the help of search giant Baidu, remains in direct competition with Didi Kuaidi. Both companies are on the hunt to dominate China's transportation market, which has continually adapted to the rise in mobile application usage.
"When we started this year, we were about one percent market share," Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick told investors on Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
"Today, nine months later, we're looking at about 30 to 35 percent market share."
Uber plans to improve relations with governments around the world---it seeks to do so by working with state officials and national courts on developing policy that ensures observation of safety procedures and economic regulations.
The company's growing role in the transportation service industry has been a concern to many, including government officials and other taxi companies that are not application-based.
Although France, Spain and other national governments have banned Uber operations within their respective countries and a growing number of United States cities are beginning to file lawsuits against the company, it is still attempting to expand itself internationally and improve its image along the way.
Didi Kuaidi was founded last February as a merger between two of China's largest taxi-hailing firms: Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache. Uber was founded in March 2009.
