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Didi suspends UK launch plans amid China crackdown on data security

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global has suspended its plans to launch in Britain and mainland Europe, following a regulatory backlash in China over data privacy.

Didi has been building up to a planned launch later this year, having secured operator’s licenses in a number of UK cities including Salford and Sheffield. But now the planned launch has been delayed for at least a year – and industry insiders believe it may now not happen at all.

In February 2021, Didi announced plans to launch in European markets including the UK, France and Germany. But now, staff working on the planned launches have been told that they face possible redundancy, and Didi has stopped hiring in Britain.

In a statement, a Didi spokesman did not mention the UK, merely stating: “We continue to explore additional new markets, liaising with relevant stakeholders in each and being thoughtful about when to introduce our services.”

Beijing-based Didi’s problems are in its home market, where it has been caught in a domestic regulatory crackdown on the massive Chinese internet sector. Didi is under a cyber-security review as China revamps its policy towards privacy and data security to ensure secure storage of user data.

Didi listed its shares in New York in June after raising £3.2 billion in an initial public offering with a view to international expansion, but the Chinee regulatory crackdown has wiped a fifth off its value. Didi is the dominant ride-hailing operator in China. Indeed, it is so powerful that Uber withdrew from the market in 2016 in exchange for a stake in Didi.

Didi recently launched in South Africa, Ecuador and Kazakhstan, and has established operations in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Colombia. But it now looks like Europe is no longer on the schedule.

Bolt launches in Sheffield with low initial commission charges

Bolt in Sheffield

Uber’s biggest ride-hailing rival Bolt has launched in Sheffield, and is targeting the city’s drivers by offering to take lower commissions on their fares than other firms.

Sheffield is the ninth city in the UK to be targeted by the company, and Bolt faces stiff competition from giant local operator City Taxis, as well as Uber, which also operates in the city.

Sheffield joins London, Birmingham, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Peterborough and Wolverhampton. It is not known how many cars Bolt will be operating in Sheffield.

The launch comes at a time when Uber is backing away from the direct-launch model and putting increasing amounts of work through established private hire operators on the Autocab iGo platform. Uber bought Autocab last year.

Hafeas Rehman, chairman of Sheffield Taxi Trade Association, said: “From talking to people, I understand private hire drivers are happy for them to come in to Sheffield purely because of the rate that they charge. I think drivers are welcoming it, and I’ve seen at least one today with Bolt stickers on its doors. Talking to colleagues there are a few drivers with them.”

In an email to drivers, Bolt offered a 7.5% commission rate for two months, rising to 15% or 10% for drivers running electric cars.

Estonia-based Bolt last month announced it made a loss of €44.9m in 2020, an improvement on 2019’s net loss of €85.5m. In the same period, Bolt’s revenue increased by 74.5% to €221.4m despite volatile trading in the pandemic, according to the company’s consolidated annual report.

Bolt announced on August 2 that it had closed its largestever funding round, raising €600m and increasing its valuation to more than €4bn. Expansion plans include electric scooters and food delivery services under the Bolt Food and Bolt Market brands.