Being constantly pulled to the sides of the many errands that await our attention, some things are bound to be left out.

The world is in dire need of a tool, or an app to ease our lives, transport-wise.

Welcome, Didi Chuxing - the world's leading mobile transportation platform with more than 550 million rides and 21 million drivers. This app-based transport company provides a variety of services including taxi hailing, ride-sharing, delivery services, private car-hailing, etc.

Cheng Wei is the brain behind this company that started as Didi Dache and was later renamed Didi Chuxing.

Experiencing the busy life of Beijing, first hand, and having trouble finding proper transport made Didi develop the idea of Didi Chuxing, the transport app.

Stick around to read more about the inspiring story of Cheng Wei, the mastermind behind the transport app known as Didi Chuxing.

A Tranquil Childhood

Cheng Wei, the proud founder of Didi Chuxing was born in 1983 in the small town of Shangrao. Cheng was a happy child growing up with a loving family, in a lovely little town placed in the southeastern province of Jiangxi.

Surrounded by the colors of nature, the noise of the Yangtze River, and the tranquility of his city - Cheng really did have an enjoyable childhood. After reaching a certain age, young Cheng attended and successfully completed his primary education in Shangrao. Through his early teenage years, Cheng’s family was nothing less than loving and supporting, boosting his confidence to become a good, successful person in everything he was doing.

After completing his primary and secondary education, young Cheng decided to replace the tranquility of Shangrao with the busy and chattering city of Beijing.

His dream was to enter the University of Chemical Technology, but sometimes things are not going as smoothly as we’ve imagined.

Unexpectedly, Ching fell ill on the day of the entrance exam. However, he decided to go and take the exam, anyway. Fortunately, by putting in every atom of his strength, Cheng entered the university he was dreaming of attending.

Cheng’s adventurous professional journey continued on the streets of modern Beijing.

The Profesional Development

As the university duties started, Cheng moved to Beijing and explored the concrete jungle happening on the streets of the capital of China.

After he graduated from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology and received a bachelor's degree in administration, Cheng started searching for a job. He was not thinking of going back to his birth town - he was amazed by Beijing and decided to continue living there.

Shortly after his research started, he landed himself a position as an assistant to a chairman of one massage and healthcare company. Cheng started this work in this company in 2004, but one year later, he found out that this wasn't the job for him. He no longer found it exciting because his heart’s desire was to do something more challenging and thought-provoking. So, Cheng applied to join the company Alibaba, for the position of a salesperson.

Cheng joined Alibaba's sales team and quickly rose through the ranks thanks to his outstanding performance, eventually becoming the company's youngest regional manager. Cheng’s position was elevated to deputy general manager of Alibaba's e-commerce platform, 6 years later.

Even though Alibaba recognized Cheng as a highly motivated professional, therefore further securing his position in both Alibaba and Alipay, still, something was buzzing inside Cheng.

Restless and pumped with ambition, Cheng knew there was something out there that awaited him…

Change of Luck

Living in a big city like Beijing means walking around fastly, sometimes running and more often struggling to find a taxi. Cheng was aware of these struggles because he, himself, was living in Beijing. Also, he knew that a big city like Beijing needs an apt app that will allow people to find taxis, easily.

So, he used his working experience of 6 years at Alibaba's sales and Alipay divisions, and in June 2012, Cheng founded Didi Dache. It was a taxi-hailing app named Beijing XiaoJu Keji Co., which means „little orange“. Shortly after, he renamed it to „Beep-beep! Mobility“. Customers could use the app to request taxis and other transport services that would pick them up right away.

Still, due to a lack of popularity and marketing, the app didn't show many positive results at the beginning of its running. Little did Cheng know that his luck was about to change. Cheng's turning moment occurred during one bad snowfall in Beijing. Hailing a taxi on the streets was nearly impossible, all of which led people to download the Didi Dache app, more and more.

Didi Chuxing was making its way to becoming the go-to transport app for the fast-paced people of Beijing.

The Evolution of Didi Chuxing

After the founding of Didi Dache in June 2021, Cheng discovered that the road to market dominance, however, was not simple. He initially struggled to capture the hearts of customers and to attract drivers.

Cheng teamed up with Bo Zhang who became the second co-founder and CTO at Didi’s. Zhang is in charge of Didi's overall technology, product, and big-data analytical framework creation and development. He oversees Didi's technology transformation from a taxi-hailing app to a wholesome mobility platform.

2013 was a lucky year for Didi Dache because Tencent, a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate holding company, provided Cheng with $15 million in investment, allowing him to double the number of daily ride requests.

However, Didi Dache was faced with some tough competition from his rival, Kuaidi Dache, which was supported by Alibaba at the time. The two businesses eventually combined in 2015 to form Didi Kuaidi, which ultimately became Didi Chuxing.

Didi completed a $4.5 billion funding round in June 2016, including Apple Inc. as one of the investors. Also, Cheng bought Uber China in 2016, and the company began to develop even faster than before. Didi was expanding not just in China, but around the world, too.

Moreover, Didi Chuxing had completed 7.43 billion rides across 400 cities in China by 2017 only, according to the Chinese news agency, Xinhua.

After violent attacks on female customers by drivers in 2018, Cheng improved Didi Chuxing's safety and security system and committed to investing $20 million in improving its services. In 2018, Didi operated in 16 countries, including Mexico, Russia, and Brazil.

After its IPO on June 30th, China's largest ride-hailing startup reeled in a lot of investors. A single Didi’s stock was initially priced at $14, but unfortunately, now the selling goes under $7. Shortly after, on August 2nd, the US Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily stopped any IPOs from Chinese companies due to regulations surrounding Didi and other Chinese firms.

Didi Chuxing - the Ride That Holds the Future in Its Hands

Even though Didi Chuxing is experiencing some difficulties this year - they are doing everything to not disappoint their customers. Didi Chuxing is still the most popular ride-hailing platform in China, with a market share of 90%. Wei Cheng, Bo Zhang, and their team of professionals are using the slogan „More than a journey“ for offering a wide range of app-based mobility services, worldwide.

The company was founded in 2012, in Beijing, China, by Cheng Wei. Today, Didi Chuxing is offering different services connected to transport, from food delivery to ride-hailing. The platform is created to satisfy every client's needs and to provide fast transfer.

Cheng Wei is the current CEO of Didi Chuxing, holding its headquarters in Beijing. Today, there are more than 15,000 people working for the company, making sure everyone gets a ride.

Didi Chuxing's plan is to develop even more and to include new services in the future. And with a team like theirs, the future is bright for Didi Chuxing.

Download the app, find the service you wanna use, and beep-beep ー the transport vehicle will wait for you in front of your door.

Once you become part of the Didi community, the ride will never stop because Didi Chuxing is a journey that will last a lifetime!