ByteDance is raising as much as US$600 million ($778.97 million) for its car information and trading platform Dongchedi, according to people familiar with the situation.
General Atlantic, HongShan, KKR & Co. and Gaorong Ventures are joint investors in the fundraising round, which values Dongchedi at close to US$3 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, initiated a plan to carve out Dongchedi less than a year ago, the people said. They added that Dongchedi shares the same user traffic pool as Douyin, the version of TikTok used in China.
ByteDance and Gaorong didn’t respond to requests for comment. Representatives for General Atlantic, KKR and HongShan, which was formerly Sequoia Capital China, declined to comment.
Launched as a standalone in 2017, Dongchedi, or DCar, is an automobile information, trading and services platform. It has about 35.7 million monthly active users, according to a report in June by Quest Mobile.
Under scrutiny in the US after a bill was passed ordering the sale of TikTok, ByteDance has been reviewing its businesses to center on long-term growth areas. It reduced its gaming division to avoid a clash with Tencent Holdings and has considered selling Shanghai Moonton Technology, a studio it acquired for US$4 billion in 2021, Bloomberg News reported.
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Dongchedi competes with peers such as Autohome and Bitauto Holdings.
