US-based ride hailing service Uber is planning to raise close to $1bn in new funding, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing people close to the matter.
Uber intends to begin talks with prospective investors over the next few weeks. The round would value Uber at between $60bn and $70bn, a sizeable jump from the $51bn valuation at which the company raised $1bn in July this year.
The funding also looks to be separate from the $1.5bn being raised by the company’s regional subsidiary, Uber China, which has already secured $1bn from investors including online services provider Baidu, China Life Insurance, Citic Bank and, reportedly, Ping An and Hillhouse Capital.
Taking the Uber China funding into account, Uber has raised a total of about $8bn in debt and equity since it was founded in 2009, with past investors including internet and technology company Alphabet, which invested through its Google Ventures unit, software producer Microsoft and Times Internet, a subsidiary of media conglomerate Times Group.
Other backers include Sequoia Capital, TPG, Fidelity Investments, Benchmark Capital, Wellington Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Menlo Ventures, Data Collective, CrunchFund, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Lowercase Capital, First Round Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Innovation Endeavors.
Uber appears to be opting to raise the cash to fuel an ongoing expansion strategy that has brought into more than 300 cities across 63 countries, but which has also led to an extremely high burn rate as it battles against well-funded local competitors in each new market.
Areas Uber is investing heavily in include China, reportedly now responsible for around 30% of its bookings, its Uber Pool car ride sharing service, and a succession of legal disputes as the company runs up against regulatory challenges in market after market.
Normally, a company of Uber’s size would have looked to the public markets at this stage of its evolution, but technology flotations have looked shaky as of late and continuing to raise cash privately may well be thought the better option.