US-based on-demand car service Uber has raised $258m from search engine provider Google a few months after former investor MG Siegler joined its corporate venturing unit.
Other investors are investing a further $105m in Uber’s shares, according to a Delaware regulatory filing seen by news provider All Things D. Two sources told newspaper San Jose Mercury News those shares are coming from prior investors, rather than the company.
The filing seen by All Things D said Uber had sold $90m of shares to private equity firm TPG Capital at a valuation of $3.5bn, with venture capital firm Benchmark Capital buying another $15m.
In December 2011, Uber raised $32m in series B funding from investors including financial services firm Goldman Sachs and led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from fellow venture capital (VC) firms Benchmark Capital and Bezos Expeditions (the vehicle for Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos’ VC investments) and investment firm Lowercase Capital. At the time, the company was valued at $330m, according to All Things D.
Uber previously raised $11m from a series A round funded by Benchmark, Lowercase, VC firm First Round Capital, VC fund Founder Collective and several angel investors. Uber’s $1.5m seed funding was provided by Founder, Lowercase, First Round and a host of angels including Shawn Fanning, David Cohen and Naval Ravikant.
In May, MG Siegler, a partner in CrunchFund, a venture fund backed by internet services provider AOL, stepped down after building a portfolio, including Uber along with Airbnb, Betable, Crowdtilt, Ifttt, Karma, Mailbox, Path, Square, Vine, and Yammer, to join Google’s corporate venturing arm Google Ventures, which can invest $300m per year and has backed similar transportation businesses in SideCar and RelayRides.
Google has also been setting up an affiliated unit, Google Capital, to do later-stage deals typically for more than $100m per deal, including questionnaire provider SurveyMonkey and financial services provider Lending Club earlier this year.
All Things D said Uber expected to have $125m in revenues this year. Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber, in a blog posted by All Things D, said: “Our vision is to build a technology company that changes transportation and this financing gives us the fuel to make that a reality.”
Google chief legal officer David Drummond, who heads the search giant’s corporate development activities, will join Uber’s board alongside TPG founder David Bonderman.
TPG has been focusing on earlier-stage investments to help provide insights into the impact of disruptive companies on its existing and future leveraged buyouts portfolio.
Kalanick said Google was important beyond its dollars because of its “incredibly complementary product suite, ranging from Google Maps to Android to self-driving vehicles” as well as its, and TPG’s, experience working with governments around the world.
Kalanick wrote that Uber plans to use the funding to expand into new markets “and fight off protectionist, anti-competitive efforts”.