Chinese car-hailing app Didi part of $500m funding for Indian peer Ola

Didi Chuxing, a car-booking mobile app owned by Didi Kuaidi, is shown on a mobile phone, Sept 17, 2015. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - China's ride-hailing and ride-sharing app Didi said on Wednesday that it was among a group of investors channeling $500 million into Indian ride-sharing app Ola.

The Chinese startup declined to specify how much it had invested to the fund that also featured backers including Baillie Gifford, Falcon Edge Capital, Tiger Global, SoftBank Group, DST Global.

Didi said in late September that it had an undisclosed amount of stakes in the Indian company, following a $100 million investment in Lyft, a ride-sharing service in the United States and $350 million joint investment in Grabtaxi in southeast Asia.

Alongside battling Uber in China, Beijing-based Didi has chosen to invest in Uber's rivals in other countries to compete globally.

Didi is currently valued at $16.5 billion after CEO Cheng Wei announced in September the startup had secured its next round of funding -- to the tune of $3 billion.