Shanghai (ZXZC)- Xiangdao Chuxing, SAIC Motor's mobility service brand, announced on Dec. 18 it has closed its Series A round with over 300 million yuan ($45,846,330) raised from Alibaba Group and CATL.

The two investors and Xiangdao Chuxing will carry out in-depth collaboration on autonomous driving, new energy vehicle (NEV) and data technologies.

Xiangdao Chuxing announced strategic upgrade; photo credit: SAIC Motor

At the same time, the two-year-old brand announced it has completed the deployment of a “full-scenario smart mobility services”, which encompass ride-hailing and taxi services as well as car rental services to both private users and companies.

Two new services dubbed “Xiangdao Shizu” and “Shencheng Chuxing” were added to the business lineup in the meantime. According to SAIC Motor, “Xiangdao Shizu” is designed to offer private users tailor-made and flexible car rental service. It will be operated by EVCARD, an online full-scenario hourly car rental service platform under SAIC Motor. “Shencheng Chuxing” focuses on taxi service based on a unified platform.

Prior to the business expansion, the SAIC-owned mobility service platform has already owned two service sectors, namely “Xiangdao Zhuanche” and “Xiangdao Zuche”. The former is dedicated to providing private users with safe and comfortable ride-hailing service. It has to-date had businesses in over 20 cities in China with over 20 million registered users.

Facilitating business users in travelling, “Xiangdao Zuche” now has presence in 154 cities and owns 2,000 plus enterprise clients. 

On Nov. 12, 2018, SAIC Motor said it would launch Xiangdao Chuxing to explore the online car-hailing market as a strategic move in pursuing the auto-sharing trend and advancing its innovation and transformation.