Two of Uber's biggest rivals are teaming up

Didi Kuaidi, Uber's biggest competitor in China, is teaming up with Lyft — Uber's biggest US competitor — to take on Uber.

The Wall Street Journal broke the news minutes before the two companies were to hold a press conference together in New York to make the announcement.

According to The Journal, Lyft and Didi are in talks to expand their alliance with other Asian ride-hailing companies: India's Ola and Singapore's GrabTaxi.

Lyft's John Zimmer said during the companies' press conference that the partnership will go into effect early next year.

In addition to announcing the alliance, the two companies have confirmed earlier reports that Didi Kuaidi invested in Lyft's recent round of funding earlier this year, joining Asian investors Rakuten, Alibaba, and Tencent.

Specifically, Didi Kuaidi invested $100 million in Lyft's Series E round.

You'll be able to pay in your native currency on each app to avoid having to pay for your Didi or Lyft ride in a foreign currency, depending on where you live. So if you're an American visiting China, you can open the Lyft app to pay for and order a Didi, and then Lyft will give whatever money it made from your ride to Didi.

The companies said in a press release that the number of visits between the US and China "totaled more than 7.8 million" last year, and the partnership is intended to increase both companies' global footprint and make traveling easier.

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