Chinese ridesharing startup Didi Chuxing (formerly Didi Kuaidi) is planning on going public as soon as next year, according to a report Sunday.

According to “people familiar with the matter” spoken to by Blooberg, Didi is looking at an initial public offering (IPO) in New York, but the timing of the float will depend on how its battle with Uber, Inc. in China plays out.

The potential float would see Didi going public before Uber, who has said they plan to hold out on an IPO “as long as possible.”

Didi’s current investors include Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund, Softbank, Tamasek Holdings, GSR Ventures, and perhaps more famously Apple, Inc., who announced a $1 billion investment in the company only last week.

Of note, the Bloomberg report claims Apple’s $1 billion investment is actually the first tranche of a $3 billion fund raise the company is currently undertaking; the valuation on the new raise is said to be around $26 billion, and including the Apple money Didi has raised $4.42 billion to date.

Founded in 2012, Didi dominates the the local market with an 87 percent share of the market for private car-hailing in China and operates in 400 cities working with more than a staggering 14 million drivers delivering 11 million rides a day.

Uber challenge

While valued at a figure less than Uber’s $62.5 billion, Didi’s dominance of the Chinese market is significant not only due to massive size of the marketplace, but the fact that Uber is desperate for a big slice of the pie.

Uber is planning to spend $1 billion in expanding out to 100 cities in China by using profits made in its top 30 global cities, but the challenge is huge; Didi may only operate in China, but it still has some global reach through a partnership announced in December 2015 with Uber rivals Lyft, Inc., South East Asia’s GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. Ltd., and India’s Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), that allows users of each service to book vehicles on the other using their respective apps.

The fruits of that partnership are still not clear but if it was to expand to other Uber rivals, and there are plenty in various markets across the globe, Uber could be facing a joint force of companies that combined may well end up being bigger not only by drivers and areas service, but by joint valuation as well.

Didi declined to comment on the report.

Image credit: Didi Chuxing