Uber’s Next Billion Dollar Move

Fewer than six months after it pulled in $1.2 billion in funding, Uber is asking investors for “at least” an additional $1 billion in new equity, according to a report in the Financial Times.

“People familiar with Uber’s plans say that it hopes to raise the money at a higher valuation than the $17bn it secured with June’s Series D round. That price tag had already made it the highest-valued private company in Silicon Valley and Uber’s aggressive move to raise more capital is likely to raise fresh questions about how much further private tech company valuations can rise. The San Francisco company is looking to raise the new capital from existing investors, which include BlackRock, TPG, Google Ventures and Menlo Ventures, and new funds from beyond Wall Street and Silicon Valley, especially in Asia,” the story noted. “If completed, the fundraising would give five-year-old Uber a $2bn war chest to expand further in Asia, Latin America, eastern Europe and Africa, as well as build out new transportation and logistics services after experiments with New York bicycle couriers and food delivery in Los Angeles.”

Uber now has about a billion dollars in its bank account.

The story pointed out that Uber has been using some of that money—and it’s associated clout—to hire some top talent, such as David Plouffe, former campaign manager for U.S. President Barack Obama, to deal with regulatory hurdles, and Tom Fallows, the former head of Google Express, to deal with delivery efforts.