Is investing in Uber — the ride-sharing app that has had two of its managers arrested, drivers’ cars torched and equity valued at 125 times trailing revenues — just a little too tame? Welcome to Uber China.

That probably is not the pitch that Uber and its bankers at Goldman Sachs are employing. But the fundraising for Uber’s China subsidiary (rumoured to be $1bn, although Uber has not confirmed the size), has been going on for a longer-than-expected two months. It is not for the faint of heart.

Uber, which has a valuation of $50bn, is going all guns blazing into the world’s most populous market and it needs more ammunition. It is already spending more than $1bn a year in China in an effort to recruit drivers and customers. It has claimed early success, with a fast-growing presence in 11 cities and more than 1m trips a day — although even Uber acknowledges that some of those are fraudulent.