U.S. ride-hailing service Uber will establish a company in China made up of local employees, partners as well as investors, Travis Kalanick, founder and CEO of Uber, said in an interview with news portal caixin.com.
Kalanick said that Uber has not adopted this model before in its operations around the world, but China is quite different, caixin.com reported on Wednesday.
New technology spreads in China faster than anywhere else in the world, including the U.S., Kalanick said, noting that is why as an entrepreneur, he wants to stay in the Chinese market.
Uber has decided to set up an independent management system and head office for the Chinese market.
Responding to the question of how much funding will be raised for the Chinese market, Kalanick said finding the right partner is more important and Uber needs a partner to help it interact with local regulators and become more local.
Like in other countries, Uber also faces regulators' doubts in China. Its offices in Chengdu and Guangzhou were visited by local authorities in May.
The growing popularity of car and taxi-hailing apps prompted the Chinese Ministry of Transport in January to order app developers to exclude private cars from their platforms and make sure that all vehicles used are owned by taxi or car rental companies to ensure passenger safety.
Uber also faces fierce competition in China.
Didi-Kuaidi, a joint company created in February by a $6 billion merger of China's two major car-hailing companies, now has a dominant market share.
And CAR Inc, a Chinese car rental service company, targeted Uber in a series of adverts on its Weibo account on June 25, implying that Uber hired private cars to run the ride-hailing service illegally, which is unsafe for passengers.
Kalanick admitted the fierce competition in the Chinese market and said a company which is not local must remain humble in China.
As for the speculation if Uber will expand to the social networking sector, Kalanick said that there are enough such tools and Uber has no need to join. It will not be Uber's top priority, he noted.
