Online Taxi hailing company, Uber, is now said to be valued at about $51bn after closing a new round of funding. This new round funding is said to be about $1bn dollars and this now makes Uber the most valuable startup in the world. This means that it surpasses Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi which was recently valued at $46 billion.
According to PrivCo research, a data provider on privately-held companies, Uber’s valuation has increased by $10 billion in just seven months.
While it took Facebook seven years to be valued at $50bn, it took Uber only five years. The new funding comes from Microsoft and an Indian media conglomerate, Benneth Coleman and Co.
However Bloomberg reported that Microsoft was considering the investment and hasn’t made a final decision. Microsoft has not commented on this.
Uber now operates in more than 300 cities in at least 57 countries.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Uber had revenue of more than $400 million last year,and it has told some investors it expects revenue to grow to $2 billion this year.
