The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Uber closed a US$1 billion financing round at a valuation of about US$51 billion, and that Microsoft participated in the deal. Uber’s market value has been assessed to be $50 billion.
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“We filed to authorize this new funding more than two months ago”, said Kristin Carvell, a spokeswoman for Uber. The filing is available to the public.
Mr Tony Imperati, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, declined to comment. In India, it will invest this money in the next 6-9 months to improve its operators, expand to other cities, develop new products and payment solutions and set up a better support network. Uber now operates in 18 cities in India; it launched operations in 7 of those cities just last month. In May, a person familiar with the matter said this particular round of fundraising was intended to form strategic alliances with other companies while simultaneously bolstering Uber’s coffers. In December, Baidu, the Chinese search giant, invested hundreds of millions in Uber.
What is clear is that Uber has often struggled since launching in India in 2013. About 100 Microsoft engineers were expected to join Uber, following this deal.
There is growing speculation that software giant Microsoft Corporation has agreed to make a huge investment in ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc., Bloomberg reported.
The plan of Uber and Microsoft is to integrate Microsoft’s Cortana voice controlled assistant with Uber so that people can take Uber rides based on a schedule rather than people ordering the cabs at the final moment. It is an evidence of the fact that the two companies will remain partners in the future too.
Uber operates in 57 countries, with an estimated value of more than $40 billion.
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Times Internet’s Uber partnership: In March this year, Times Internet*, the digital business owned by Times of India group, entered into a strategic partnership with the taxi booking service Uber in a deal that was “centered around a commercial marketing arrangement accompanied by a small investment”, according to the company. Uber has also upset regulators, who have sued or banned the company from California to Brazil.
