Microsoft has agreed to invest about $100 million in Uber, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
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“We are extremely bullish on the Indian market and see tremendous potential here”, Amit Jain, president of Uber India said in a statement on Friday.
According to data obtained by CNN Money from private company financial intelligence provider PrivCo, Uber’s value has actually increased by an astounding $10 billion just in seven months.
In addition, in late June Microsoft transferred its mapping operation to Uber, getting out of the business of creating map imagery internally.
Uber has been collating investment from several lucrative companies over the past few years, with the likes of Chinese web company Baidu rumoured to have invested as much as $600 million in the app.
Microsoft’s participation is a new development, and may indicate a growing partnership between Uber and the software giant, which is based in Redmond, Washington.
Uber said India and China are its priority markets.
Last week reports began surfacing that Microsoft, and others, had invested a substantial amount in Uber.
Investors inside the latest round comprise Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and of course the Indian social media combine Bennett Coleman & Co’s Times Internet, this report said.
In 2015 alone, Uber has added New York, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago to the list of cities it serves. In 2007, Microsoft paid $US240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, an investment that eventually led to product integrations between the two companies.
There are a lot of reasons Microsoft might want to foster a close tie-up to Uber, not all of them related to businesses. It is an evidence of the fact that the two companies will remain partners in the future too.
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Uber operates in 57 countries, with an estimated value of more than $40 billion. Uber connects travelers with drivers through its smartphone app and is an alternative to traditional taxi services. It has upset regulators, who have sued or banned the company from California to Brazil.
