有报道称，一家中国大型投资集团正主导对优步进行新一轮投资。种种迹象都表明，优步离上市不远了。
Chinese fund manager Hillhouse Capital Group is leading aninvestment in the ride-sharing company that could reacharound $1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Theconvertible bond deal involves buying bonds that can beconverted into shares at a discount to the company’s IPO price.The longer it takes for Uber to go public, the greater the returnfor investors, providing a time-laden incentive for the company to launch an IPO soon. Uber hadpreviously raised around $1.6 billion from the wealth-management division of Goldman Sachs GS-1.82% in a very similar deal in January.
《华尔街日报》称，中国的高瓴资本正在牵头发起对优步的新一轮投资，总额可能高达10亿美元。根据双方签订的可转债协议，投资人可将债券以低于公司IPO发行价的价格转换为优步的股份。这样一来，优步越是迟迟不上市，投资人的回报就越高，这为优步尽快启动上市计划增加了时间压力。今年1月，优步曾以类似的交易框架，从高盛财富管理部门筹资约16亿美元。
The entrance of Hillhouse is also notable for two reasons: The Beijing-based firm is one of thebiggest fund managers in Asia, overseeing assets in excess of $20 billion; and Hillhouse’s previousinvestments in technology firms, such as China’s Tencent Holdings, have paid off.
高瓴资本的进入之所以引起人们的关注，原因有两个：一是这家总部位于北京的企业是亚洲最大的基金管理公司之一，管理的资产超过了200亿美元;二是高瓴资本此前投资技术公司获得了丰厚的回报，其中包括腾讯。
Working with such a prominent firm also plays well with Uber’s ambitions to go big in China. Earlierthis month, CEO Travis Kalanick said in an email that went public that the company’s global teamwas spending $1 billion on expanding into China, making it the company’s “number one priority”.Uber already operates in around 300 cities.
与这种知名公司合作也有助于优步实现其做大中国业务的雄心壮志。本月早些时候，公司首席执行官特拉维斯·卡兰尼克在一封流传出来的邮件中表示，优步将投入10亿美元以扩张中国业务，这是公司目前的“头号任务”。目前，它已在全球300多个城市展开运营。
The deal should also send confusing signals to Didi Kuaidi, the largest taxi-hailing app in China, and,by definition, Uber’s biggest competitor. Hillhouse is also an investor in the Chinese startup, and thislatest news will worry them. This comes after tech sites in Asia highlighted a consumer report thatDidi Kuadi had experienced more customer data leaks from taxi apps between January of 2014and May of 2015 in China when compared to Uber.
因为高瓴资本也是滴滴快的的投资者，该交易引发了一些争议。滴滴快滴是中国最大的叫车应用，也是优步在中国的主要竞争对手，高瓴资本投资优步的消息可能会让滴滴快的感到不安。此外，多家亚洲科技网站此前在一份消费者报告中称，2014年1月至2015年5月期间，从滴滴快的应用中泄漏的客户数据要多于优步。
