Google Ventures Puts $258M Into Uber, Its Largest Deal Ever
A Certificate Of Incorporation unearthed by AllThingsD today shows that Uber has closed $361.2 million in its latest round. It's unknown why TPG, which picked up 775,092 shares, paid a lower per-share price than the other participants.
Context & Ripple Effects
Uber had been pursuing venture backing since 2011, and its 2013 expansion had already reached Singapore and Taipei. A July report had described a funding auction that could value Uber at $3.5 billion; that valuation was unconfirmed at the time.
The financing gives that expansion strategy a far larger capital base and makes Google Ventures a consequential Uber shareholder, while TPG joins the round. Uber's contest with Hailo was already framed as a race to establish real-time taxi booking at scale.
First-order effects
- Uber receives $361.2 million to support its operating and geographic expansion, with Google Ventures supplying $258 million—its largest investment to date.
- Google Ventures gains a substantial financial position in Uber, and TPG becomes an investor despite paying a lower per-share price than other round participants for reasons not disclosed.
Second-order effects
- Hailo faces a better-capitalized Uber in their taxi-hailing rivalry, raising the cost of competing city by city on service availability and growth.
- The round reinforces a reported $3.5 billion valuation benchmark for Uber's fundraising, giving private investors a clearer reference point for backing competing ride-booking services.
Third-order effects
- If comparable services need large private rounds to finance local launches before revenues mature, access to growth capital becomes a primary determinant of which ride-hailing networks achieve scale.
- The deal points to venture firms concentrating larger checks in marketplace businesses whose value depends on rapidly building supply and demand across cities.
The trend: Ride-hailing is becoming a capital-intensive network race in which large private financings underwrite expansion ahead of local market leadership.