Mostly from Microsoft: Uber holds out hand, hails another $1bn

As per Wall Street Journal, Uber had filed the papers in May to authorize this latest round of funding worth billion, which will take total funding to $5 billion, with revenues of $400 million (in 2014).

Uber, which was previously valued at $40 billion when it raised financing earlier this year, is benefiting from investors who view its car-booking technology as the future of transport.

It’s odd that Microsoft would make such a big late-stage investment in a company like Uber, which falls well outside of its recent focus on user productivity. (Previous rounds have included undisclosed funders.) Microsoft declined requests for comment. Uber just turned five. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded the company in 2009.

Not all those deals have gone smoothly.

The new round could help Uber continue to expand in markets outside the US including India, its second-largest market. Xiaomi was most recently valued at $46 billion, according to PrivCo.

The start-up has looked to sharpen its online maps capabilities, and Microsoft has experience in that area, The Journal reported. Uber, in turn, acquired a stake in Microsoft’s mapping technology and offered employment to 100 employees of Microsoft. Times Internet is a subsidiary of Bennett Coleman & Co, which publishes The Times of India and The Economic Times.

Uber in March maintained that Times Internet would invest “well under” $16 million as part of a “strategic partnership”. The driver denies wrongdoing and is now on trial. Uber operates in 57 countries, and has investors like, Google Inc and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. That round could be closed as soon as next week, the person familiar with the situation said. Uber has not revealed plans to go public, but the bump in its valuation is yet another indication that an IPO must be around the corner.