Uber valued at over $40bn as the ride hire app looks to raise $1bn
UBER, the controversial ride hire smartphone app, is close to raising more than $1bn (£633m) in a funding round that could reportedly value the business at up to $40bn.
While the financing round has yet to close and the terms and investors involved could still change, according to Bloomberg, US investors T. Rowe Price Group and Fidelity Investments are both said to be involved.
The valuation would be more than double Uber’s $17bn valuation from June, when it raised $1.2bn from seven investors, and would even dwarf Twitter’s $25.1bn market capitalisation.
The figure is even more impressive given that total global taxi revenues are estimated to be around $100bn a year, of which Uber currently controls just a fraction.
Uber has run into a number of controversies during its rapid growth, including clashing with local government and taxi industry regulators.
Last week, Uber confirmed it would investigate one its New York executives for allegedly tracking a journalist’s movements using its service, without her permission. Separately, another Uber executive last week commented that the firm should set up a team of experts to look into the private lives of journalists who wrote about the company.
Uber declined to comment on its fundraising last night.