Last week, news surfaced that Didi (a popular ride-hailing platform in China) is quietly recruiting ride-hailing drivers in Hong Kong through a new app called KayGo, signaling its preparation to formally enter the city’s private ride-hailing segment.
Actually, Didi entered Hong Kong as early as 2018, but limited its services to taxi-hailing without offering private car ride-hailing due to regulatory constraints.
Interestingly, KayGo is registered under KAYGO PTE. LTD, a Singapore entity. Besides, it has a cool logo.
We’ve been following Didi’s international moves over the years, and a few quick thoughts about this move:
- Meituan entered Hong Kong in 2023 with its food delivery platform KeeTa and quickly gained traction. Didi, by contrast, has been in Hong Kong since 2018 but never launched private ride-hailing in earnest. Given its scale and international ambition, the delay feels puzzling—especially for a market where Uber has been operating private cars for ride hailing for over a decade.
2. Hong Kong is a complex market for private ride-hailing.
Private ride-hailing is still a legal grey area in Hong Kong. Under current regulations, only licensed taxis are allowed to operate point-to-point transport services for hire, meaning private vehicles used for commercial ride-hailing technically violate laws.
Therefore, Uber often experienced strong pushback from the taxi lobby, which remains politically influential and hostile towards private vehicles. This regulatory obstacle explains why Didi has limited itself to taxi dispatch services for a long time.
However, the Transport Department in Hong Kong aims to propose formal rules for private ride-hailing by 2025.
For Didi, it seems the time has finally come to test the waters with private ride-hailing in Hong Kong.
Using a different brand name for drivers could be a way to isolate the regulatory risks.
3. Didi’s international business is already substantial. In 2024, Didi’s international GTV (gross transaction value) hit RMB 91.3 billion, accounting for around 25% of Didi’s total GTV and growing 34.8% year-on-year. The platform also completed 3.613 billion international ride orders, representing 22.5% of the total ride orders.
According to those data, global markets are no longer just “experiments” for didi—they’re becoming a core business pillar.
4. Since the start of its global expansion in 2017, Didi now operates in 15 markets outside Mainland China, including Argentina, Australia,Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, Panama and Peru. In addition to four wheeler ride hailing, Didi has also tried 2-wheelers (99 Moto in Brazil), and is a major player in food delivery in Mexico.
Didi CEO Cheng Wei once said Uber was like an octopus—stretching its tentacles across markets. From that perspective, Didi is now extending one of its tentacles into Hong Kong — a move that puts pressure on Uber right in its long-held stronghold.
5. In one of our Impulso Podcast episodes, we discussed the potential clash between Didi and Meituan in the food delivery market in Brazil. We also analyzed Didi’s venture in Brazil in the TLD post “China’s Didi enters Brazil’s food delivery market”.
Do you notice something interesting? Didi vs. Meituan is not just a market share battle—it’s starting to feel like a high-stakes match between former teammates.
Tony Qiu, who once led Didi’s food delivery business in Brazil, is now leading Meituan’s global food delivery platform Keeta. Many Keeta executives also have backgrounds working for Didi outside China.
6. However, Didi still has a deeper international bench than Meituan and is now far more prepared than before.
Compared to Meituan, Didi’s international team is more mature with years of operational experience especially in LATAM markets like Mexico and Brazil.
In Brazil, Didi has 700,000 active riders and runs one of the largest digital financial services ecosystems in the country. In addition, Didi’s stable performance in Mexico also enables Didi to divert more attention and resources to its expansion in Brazil.
Meituan recently announced Keeta’s expansion into Brazil with a grand plan to invest USD $1 billion in 5 years. Didi needs to act fast (and decisively) to stay ahead.
