Cheng Wei and Jean Liu

There are basically two choices for ride-hailing apps in China – Didi Kuadi and Uber – and the homegrown company remains the big dog, with 80% market share. Didi Kuaidi co-founder Cheng Wei is a cherubic-faced tech whiz who leaned on Jean Liu – the daughter of Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi and a former Goldman Sachs managing director – to finalize a merger earlier this year. The deal combined the Tencent-backed Didi Dache with Alibaba-backed Kuaidi Dache to create a giant capable of fending off rivals like Uber. In early September, the new company – which also has a new trans-pacific partnership with Lyft – was said to be raising $3 billion at a valuation of more than $16 billion, double its valuation in the spring.