Saudi Arabia's Wealth Fund Invests $3.5 Billion in Uber
The world's biggest taxi hailing app, Uber has raised jaw dropping amounts from a slew of investors over the years but the latest round of investment has certainly raised a few eyebrows not only due to the huge sum of money involved but also due to the fact that investments have dried up on a global scale over the past few months. Last Wednesday the company released a statement confirming the fact that they had received a jaw dropping $3.5 billion investment from the Saudi Arabain Sovereign Wealth Fund, the investment arm of the state that has huge assets all over the world and the latest round of investment values the revolutionary company at $62.5 billion. At this point of time, Uber is the most valuable company in the world which has been funded entirely by venture capitalists.
The CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick stated that the funding was a "vote of confidence in our business.". In this regard, it must also be stated that the company has also created a considerably war chest that would allow it to battle against rivals in different parts of the world as they try to become the dominant taxi hailing app in all the markets in which they operate. A report on Reuters further added, "Uber has committed to investing $250 million in the Middle East and North Africa, where it has grown aggressively and is now operating in nine countries and 15 cities in the region. But, as in other regions including China and India, Uber is competing in the Middle East against local ride-hailing startups such as Careem, which operates in 20 cities across the region.
In the first quarter of the year, Uber had more than 395,000 active riders across the Middle East, a five-fold jump from the first quarter of 2015, and 19,000 active drivers, representing a four-fold increase over the same period."
The investment also means that Yasir Al Rumayyan, who is the managing director of the Saudi Arabia SovereignWealth Fund would have a seat on the board of Uber and needless to say, would have a say on the key decisions that the company makes at the board level from now in.
