Uber, the San Francisco-based transportation and ride sharing startup, has raised another $1.2 billion at a valuation of $40 billion. It announced that this financing was for Uber to make substantial investments, particularly in the Asia Pacific region.
Uber is currently in over 250 cities in 50 countries, 6 times bigger today than they were 12 months ago.
According to the CEO, Travis Kalanick, “In 2015 alone, Uber will generate over 1mm jobs in cities around the world and with that millions of people may decide that they no longer need to own a car because using Uber will be cheaper than owning one. Parking could become less strained in our biggest cities, and city congestion may actually start to ease due to uberPOOL’s expansion and success.”
Though Uber has been growing, it has not been without protests from taxi drivers, taxi companies and representative bodies who believe that ridesharing companies are illegal taxicab operations that engage in unfair business practices and compromise passenger safety. However, it has continued to work with governmental bodies.
Uber launched this year in Lagos, Nigeria choosing Ice Prince Zamani as its “Rider Zero”
Uber has now raised $2.7 billion in funding.
