Uber Announces $32 Million In Funding From Menlo Ventures, Jeff Bezos, And Goldman Sachs
18 months into operations, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick just announced that the company has closed $32 million in funding lead by Menlo Ventures, Jeff Bezos and Goldman Sachs.
Context & Ripple Effects
The round closes the loop on a fundraising arc the corpus has tracked all year: GigaOM reported in February 2011 that Uber was set to pick up new VC money, and by April several major firms were reportedly vying to back Travis Kalanick's car-ordering startup. Eighteen months into operations, Uber has converted that competition into a $32 million Series B led by Menlo Ventures.
What makes the cap table notable is who joined alongside the lead: Jeff Bezos as an individual investor and Goldman Sachs as an institution — a mix of venture, billionaire angel, and Wall Street bank capital that few 18-month-old startups command.
First-order effects
- Uber gains $32 million to fund expansion beyond its initial markets, with Kalanick now backed by the firm that won a contested deal rather than settling for whichever VC came first.
- Menlo Ventures secures the lead position rivals were chasing, while Bezos and Goldman Sachs each take an early stake in a company still operating at small scale.
Second-order effects
- Competitors in the app-dispatched car service market now face a rival whose war chest and marquee-backer signaling make fundraising and city launches harder to match.
- Goldman's presence as an investor — separate from its underwriting business — puts a major bank directly on the cap table of a consumer startup, a template other growth-stage companies will notice when choosing between bankers and backers.
Third-order effects
- If hot startups can fill rounds with a blend of top-tier VCs, individual tech billionaires, and investment banks, the traditional VC-only financing structure loses leverage over which companies get funded and on what terms.
- Banks taking equity positions in private tech companies ahead of any IPO points toward Wall Street building earlier, deeper relationships with the next generation of listings.
The trend: Venture financing for breakout consumer startups is shifting toward blended syndicates of institutional VCs, high-profile individual investors, and Wall Street banks competing for access.