The ride-sharing juggernaut is reportedly seeking to raise $1 billion in funding just three months after closing its last mega-round, the New York Times reports, citing people familiar with the deal talks. The new investment would bring the company’s valuation as high as $60 billion to $70 billion, the Times says.
With a current valuation at $51 billion, Uber already tops Coins2Day’s “unicorn” list of venture capital-backed private companies appraised at $1 billion or more. If the new round—its Series G—is successful, the company will be running laps around the next runners-up on the list: Chinese handset maker Xiaomi ($46 billion) and American house-renting service Airbnb ($25.5 billion).
Uber’s executive team has reportedly already green-lit the fund-raise seeking, the Times reports. And talks with investors will begin “in the next few weeks.”
New story template I'm building: uber raising another $1b at [add 10-15% to last valuation]. It will be set to a monthly publish schedule.
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) October 24, 2015
An Uber spokesperson declined to comment.
Despite already exceeding Facebook’s (FB) pre-IPO valuation, Uber will not go public anytime soon, according to co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick. At a Wall Street Journal conference last week, he said the service is “nowhere near” that point yet.
MORE:This is Uber’s plan to invade New York State
Uber has been spending its cash in a fierce attempt to gain a foothold in foreign territory, where it faces stiff competition from the likes of rivals Didi Kuaidi (China) and Ola (India). Uber has also been contending with its much smaller rival Lyft at home in the U.S., and BlaBlaCar, which recently raised $160 million, in Europe.
Government regulations at home and abroad continue to pose an obstacle for the service, too.
The 6-year-old company, based in San Francisco, is active globally across 300 cities in 63 countries. It has raised more than $8 billion to date and, as Coins2Day points out in the latest issue of the magazine, has an incredibly convoluted tax structure.
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Update: An Uber spokesperson declined to comment.