Rideshare app Uber has been smashing the US market of late, so much so that a recent round of funding put it at a valuation of $17 billion. Now Yongche, China's Uber equivalent, is preparing to join competitors like Lyft and Hailo by launching in New York City and San Francisco.
“Most Chinese don’t speak English and find it difficult to communicate with foreign drivers after they land in another country,” Yongche founder and CEO Herman Zhou told Bloomberg, explaining that the company's plan for its US expansion is to target Chinese travellers. “We will have Chinese-speaking drivers in the U.S. and other places to make it seamless and stress-free.”
“We want to prove to the world that the competition between Uber and Yongche.com isn’t that of between a global and local company, but a match-up of two different business models,” Zhou added. “They can come to China, we can also expand and compete with them in the U.S.”
Yongche is now available in 57 cities across China and Hong Kong, with plans to hit 150 by 2015.
[via BetaBeat]
