Uber to Raise $1 Billion Funding With $70 Billion Valuation

According to CB Insights, a venture capital database, there are more than 140 private companies valued at $1 billion or more, called unicorns. Uber, just 3 months ago, raised an enormous amount of capital from investors and apparently, the company is at it again. This would be the eighth round of financing that the company has sought over the last five years. Uber’s current investors include Goldman Sachs, Google Ventures and Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc.

The taxi hailing startup Uber is looking to raise another 1 billion of venture capital funding which will likely place its value between $60 to 70 billion, according a report from The New York Times.

Earlier this week, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said that the company was “nowhere near” going public.

We’ve reached out to Uber for comment and will update this story with any response. Companies have waited a median of 7.7 years to go public this year, up from 5.8 years in 2011, according to data compiled by PitchBook.

In China in particular, the company is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day offering discounted rides to passengers and better rates for drivers, according to two people with knowledge of the company’s practices.

Uber has raised funds at a furious pace as it aims to dethrone the much-stronger Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Kuaidi in China.

Last year, at least $1 billion was budgeted for legal disputes with the authorities in Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, who work hard to regulate the use of Uber across their territories. Syndicates of cab drivers are quite vocal on the subject, since they regard Uber as a disloyal competition.

Investors seem to agree that a huge growth potential lies in the car-hailing app, and additional services of Uber point in the same direction. Uber has made initial forays into widening its services pool with projects like Uber Eats, a food delivery service, and Uber Rush, a shopping delivery service in certain cities.