Uber has closed a $1 billion round of funding in China, which values its operations in the mainland at about $7 billion, Reuters reported.

Uber announced plans in June to expand its car-booking service into 50 new Chinese cities from its current 11.

The investors in the latest round included hedge fund Hillhouse Capital, internet giant Baidu, China CITIC Bank, China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance Group. The two-month funding round reportedly was oversubscribed.

US-based Uber started operations in China in February last year and said in June its business has doubled over the past month, with almost one million trips a day in May.

The company faces a huge uphill battle in the mainland, where Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, the two leading taxi apps, have an estimated 95 per cent market share.

The two firms merged back in February to create Didi Kuaidi, the world’s largest smartphone-based taxi service. The company continues to run separate apps but has combined their technology and data. It raised $2 billion in July, valuing it at an estimated $15 billion.

Didi Kuaidi operates in 360 cities, with as many as 1.5 million drivers, and claims more than 200 million users, who take about four million trips a day using the service.

Uber also is moving aggressively into India. Last week Tata Group’s investment fund announced plans to make a “significant investment” in Uber, which reportedly was close to $100 million.