China state fund CIC invests in taxi app Didi Kuaidi: source

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's sovereign wealth fund has invested an unspecified amount in Didi Kuaidi, China's dominant ride-hailing app which is competing against U.S. firm Uber Technologies, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. The person said China Investment Corp (CIC) was one of several investors that injected more than $2 billion in recent months into the startup, which is now valued at $15 billion. The source did not give details about the size of CIC's investment, and they declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media. CIC officials were not immediately available to comment on the matter. Established in 2007 to investment China's foreign exchange reserves, CIC now has roughly $600 billion under management, including holdings in overseas real estate, natural resources and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Didi Kuaidi, which controls 80 percent of China's private car hailing market, is spending heavily to compete against Uber, which is currently raising funds for a local subsidiary called UberChina. Didi Kuaidi's other backers include Alibaba, Tencent Holding Ltd, Coatue Management and Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL]. The company recently said it handles more than 3 million rides a day. (Reporting by Gerry Shih and Paul Carsten; Editing by Miral Fahmy)