The Rise of Didi: Cheng Wei’s Entrepreneurial Journey and the Chinese Ride‑Hailing Market

Over the past two decades, China’s internet sector has repeatedly generated wealth through IPOs, producing billionaires at companies such as Tencent, Baidu, and 360, and more recently creating multimillion‑dollar fortunes for Didi’s founders and employees.

Born in 1983 in Jiangxi, Cheng Wei failed his math exam but still entered Beijing University of Chemical Technology, later working in insurance, a foot‑massage shop, and eventually joining Alibaba’s B2B division, where he rose to become the youngest regional manager and later a vice‑president of Alipay’s B2C division.

In 2012, after a frustrating taxi‑hailing experience in Beijing, Cheng conceived a ride‑hailing app, resigned from Alipay, raised ¥800,000, and founded Xiaoju Technology, launching the first version of Didi Taxi.

Early promotion was arduous: the team knocked on doors of dozens of taxi companies, faced rejection, and manually installed the app on a handful of drivers’ phones, even hiring a staff member to use the app daily to generate orders.

Breakthrough came in a snowy Beijing winter when a single driver finally booked a ride, pushing daily orders past 1,000 and attracting a $3 million investment that propelled Didi onto a fast‑growth trajectory.

From 2014 onward, Didi entered a costly battle with Kuaidi and later Uber, eventually merging with Kuaidi to form Didi Chuxing and securing investments from all three Chinese internet giants, while also forming strategic ties with Lyft and investing in Uber’s rivals worldwide.

By 2016, Uber’s unsustainable cash burn forced it to merge with Didi, ending the most intense competition in China’s internet history and cementing Didi’s position as the nation’s leading ride‑hailing platform.

The story concludes with Cheng’s reflections on perseverance, the importance of loving one’s work, and his evolution from a confused graduate to the undisputed king of China’s ride‑hailing market.