Last Friday, Uber Technologies have revealed plans of raising $1 billion from a new pool of investors which will make it the most powerful, and most valuable, privately-owned, start-up in the whole world.
According to a report from NY Times, Uber's market value of over $50 billion has beaten Facebook back when the social networking site was also doing its round of raising private capital in 2011.
This may mean that we can expect more shocking valuations from Uber in the coming months oryears since the company appears to have expanded their goals along with the increase of their capital.
Dispatch Times marks this recent request for a fund-raiser the eighth one for the start-up company in the last five years, and they are already setting in motion big plans to push their popularity in areas outside of the US, such as Europe and select cities in the Asia Pacific region.
People familiar with Uber's plans have shared that the company is pouring in money in an effort to dominate China and "to establish itself as a household name".
As of today, Uber is backed by some of the most powerful names in the venture capital, including Goldman Sachs and Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc.
Investors appear to agree that car-hailing app has a huge potential for growth, with Uber offering other services such as the Uber Eats and Uber Rush.
Although the two services mentioned have yet to pick up steam with app-users, an article released earlier this year by Forbes predicts how Uber can dramatically change the history of customer pick-up if the company can deliver on the following attributes: convenience, timely deliveries, price and value transparency, and ease of use.
Despite the start-up company's eye-popping success, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick shared in an interview last Wednesday with Wall Street Journal that he has no intention of going public, especially with the current market volatility.
In the Uber CEO's own words, "It's just a little early."
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