Taxi drivers use Cab-hailing apps to find more customers in Beijing

Alipay, the country's largest third-party online payment platform and a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, has invested heavily in cab-hailing app KuaiDi on payment subsidies to promote its online payment service. The move came on the heels of a similar subsidy program by cab-hailing app Didi, with investment from Tencent. Didi's incentive, announced early January, encourages passengers to pay taxi fares via Tencent's WeChat, a multi-media app combining instant messaging, content sharing and payment services. Alibaba and Tencent both rolled out financial services and products in 2013 to expand their businesses to traditional financial fields, including payment, loans, remittance and finance. Third-party payment service providers, such as Alipay and Tencent's Tenpay, have already become formidable players in the mobile payment market.