Perspective on Didi's 2025 Annual Report: International Business Exceeds Expectations, Continued Investment in Latin American Market

How AI and Didi’s Localization Strategy Helped Exceed Expectations in the Latin American Market

Cover Source | Visual China

On March 13, Didi released its Q4 2025 and full-year earnings report, with international business performance exceeding expectations.

The financial report shows that in Q4 2025, Didi’s international GTV (Gross Transaction Value) grew 47.1% year-over-year to 36.6 billion yuan, with order volume up 24.5% year-over-year to 1.265 billion orders. The daily average orders exceeded 13 million, accounting for one-third of China’s mobility market.

In April 2025, Didi announced the resumption of its food delivery service in Brazil, further increasing investment in key overseas markets like Latin America. Didi’s 99 platform integrates “Mobility + Food Delivery + Financial Services” to create a one-stop lifestyle service platform for local users in Brazil.

Image: 99 Riders Delivering Food

Continuous investment has led to double-digit, stepwise growth in order volume and GTV over the past three quarters, with a new record high in orders in Q4.

Looking at the full year of 2025, Didi’s international order volume increased 24.7% year-over-year to 4.505 billion orders, with a three-year compound annual growth rate of 32%. The international GTV grew 28.2% year-over-year to 117 billion yuan, maintaining steady growth.

CICC’s latest research report highlights confidence in the long-term value of Didi’s internationalization, maintaining a “beat the market” rating.

International Mobility Achieves Profitability for Two Consecutive Years, Securing Overseas Foundations

The financial report indicates that, as the core of Didi’s international business, the international mobility segment has maintained adjusted EBITDA profitability for two consecutive years.

Since expanding overseas in 2018, Didi’s international services have served over 100 million users across 14 countries and regions worldwide, including 10 countries in Latin America with a combined population of 660 million.

Brazil and Mexico, both with populations exceeding 100 million, feature highly concentrated urban populations, creating large markets for mobility, instant delivery, and online food services. Additionally, the relatively underdeveloped infrastructure in Latin America provides a supply-demand mismatch that has laid a foundation for Didi’s entry.

After years of operation in Brazil, Didi’s services now cover over 3,300 towns, with a market share of about 40% in mobility.

In Mexico, Didi has expanded from a single mobility platform to include financial and food delivery services, covering more than 70 cities and over 30 million users, with leading market shares in both mobility and food delivery.

Image: Didi Partners with GAC Aion to Introduce Electric Vehicles in Mexico

Beyond local market demand, Didi’s success in Latin America also benefits from a strong localization strategy.

For example, in Brazil, Didi acquired the local 99 platform and continued to use the “99” brand to develop its business, retaining the core team and avoiding excessive interference in local market development.

This approach helped maintain user habits and trust, enabling Didi to quickly penetrate the Brazilian market. To date, Didi has accumulated 55 million active users and 1.5 million drivers and riders locally.

Meanwhile, Didi has innovated products based on local transportation characteristics. In Latin America, motorcycles are low-cost, convenient, and highly used. In response, 99 launched the “99Moto” two-wheel mobility service in 2022, with over 2 billion orders completed in the past three years.

Data shows that motorcycle drivers on the 99 platform increased by 30% in the past year, delivery orders completed by motorcycles grew 60%, and mobility orders increased 40%.

Image: 99 Riders Delivering Food

In Latin America, Didi’s expansion goes beyond ride-hailing

After consolidating its core mobility business, Didi has extended into delivery, food, and financial services, creating a one-stop lifestyle platform for local users.

Mexico is a typical example. Building on its ride-hailing user and driver base established in 2019, Didi entered the Mexican food delivery market with DiDi Food, using market penetration and cost-effective strategies to become a leading local platform.

Didi has also expanded its service scope in Mexico to include instant delivery of medicines, alcohol, and fresh produce. Currently, Didi’s services cover over 70 cities with more than 30 million users, forming an initial “super app” ecosystem.

The success in Mexico has boosted confidence in Didi’s expansion of food delivery in Brazil. In April 2025, Didi announced the resumption of its Brazilian food delivery business.

A key reason for refocusing on Brazil’s food delivery market is its significant growth potential. Currently, Brazil’s food delivery penetration is only about 30%, far below the 50%+ levels of mature markets like China. Additionally, about 60% of Brazilians still order by phone, indicating relatively low online adoption.

With 55 million active users and 1.5 million drivers in Brazil, Didi has a natural advantage for expanding food delivery services.

Within less than a year, 99Food has launched in over 60 cities across Brazil, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and Goiânia. By mid-2026, the plan is to expand to 100 cities.

Supporting data further confirms this growth. According to exclusive data from Numerator’s Worldpanel, in São Paulo, a city with about 20 million people, iFood’s market share dropped from around 64% in August-October 2025 to 52.3%, while 99Food’s market share rapidly rose to 10%, with a user penetration rate of 15.9%, approximately 3.1 million users.

Beyond meeting Latin American users’ one-stop lifestyle needs, Didi also collaborates with other Chinese companies to promote green mobility abroad.

In 2022, 99 led the formation of the “Brazil Sustainable Mobility Alliance.” In July 2024, the “99electric-Pro” electric vehicle mobility product was launched, expanding to São Paulo, Brasília, Recife, Goiânia, and Curitiba.

As of November 2025, this category has served over 27 million passengers and reduced CO2 emissions by about 31,200 tons, equivalent to planting approximately 245,000 trees.

Image: BYD D1 Electric Vehicle Introduced to Brazil via 99 and BYD Partnership

In Mexico, Didi launched its first standardized ride-hailing fleet in October 2025, with 500 domestically produced electric vehicles from brands including GAC Aion and Jiangxi Group. The plan is to introduce 100,000 electric vehicles in Mexico by 2030, working with automakers, charging infrastructure providers, financial, and insurance companies.

Industry analysts note that Didi’s strategic investment in overseas new businesses can quickly generate double-digit growth in orders and GTV, demonstrating the synergistic value of its operations in Latin America. With continued deepening, its international business is expected to maintain rapid growth.

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