Uber Technologies Inc. and its Chinese rival Didi Kuaidi Joint Co. were both closing in on the latest round in fundraising drives to fuel their battle for China's ride-hailing market.

Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick told Chinese news website Sina in an interview published Monday that it had raised $1.2 billion so far from investors for its China unit, including an additional investment from strategic partner Baidu Inc.

An Uber spokeswoman confirmed the comments but declined to say how much Baidu invested in this round. A Baidu spokesman also confirmed the investment, declining to give a sum.

Didi Kuaidi is approaching a "second closing" that would raise an additional $1 billion, after brining in $2 billion in July, two people familiar with the matter said. The combined $3 billion round could be the largest fundraising round ever by a tech startup.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that UberChina was closing in on a $1 billion funding round that would value the Chinese business at about $7.5 billion, and that Didi Kuaidi was raising further funding that could reach $1 billion.

Baidu first invested in Uber at the end of December and hasn't disclosed the size of its investment.

Write to Eva Dou at eva.dou@wsj.com and Rick Carew at rick.carew@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 07, 2015 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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