Uber, the world's highest-valued start-up, has dominated every market it has entered, except for China, where local competitor Didi-Kuaidi has the upper-hand.
Understanding how important China is to the future, Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick said he was confident about business in China because of the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship here.
"Beijing is catching up with Silicon Valley, and I believe in the next five years, there will be more innovation, creation and entrepreneurs in Beijing than in Silicon Valley," said Kalanick, adding that more Chinese companies will go global.
Kalanick made the remarks at "Geekpark Innovation Festival," a technology forum in Beijing. During his speech he showed a picture of Bill Gates sharing the stage with Jack Ma, chair of Alibaba, and Pony Ma, founder and CEO of Tencent.
Kalanick also elaborated on how discounts and offers helped to secure market share in China, saying China and Chinese entrepreneurs are the best innovators in this regard. "I have to learn how [this works], if you want to compete with China, you have to know how to spend efficiently," said Kalanick.
Kalanick's words came after Uber and Didi-Kuaidi traded barbs on this issue lately, with Uber accusing Didi-Kuaidi of making a loss due to its discounts and offers, which can amount to 70 to 80 million U.S. dollars every week. Didi-Kuaidi said their subsidies only accounted for one fifth to a quarter of Uber's subsidies.
When striking a partnership with China's HNA Group this week, Kalanick announced that Uber's China unit had been valued at more than 7 billion dollars.
