Taxi app GrabTaxi raises $350 million from CIC, others

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Taxi-booking app GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd said it raised over $350 million from investors including sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation, in the Southeast Asian company's largest ever fundraising round.

Other investors include hedge fund Coatue Management LLC and China's mobile car-ride hailing company Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi said in a statement, adding that it would use the funds to expand its private vehicle hire and motorbike booking services and invest in technology.

Singapore-headquartered GrabTaxi competes with the likes of Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] and Rocket Internet's Easy Taxi in the city-state and some of the other Southeast Asian markets in which it operates.

The company, which counts Japanese telecoms firm SoftBank Corp and a unit of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] as shareholders, has now raised about $700 million since it was launched in 2012.

It was unclear, however, how much the latest fundraising valued the company.

The use of taxi-hailing apps is growing in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, one of the most expensive places in the world to own a private car. Heavy traffic in cities such as Manila and Jakarta also makes finding taxis tough, benefiting these apps.

(Reporting By Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

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