Uber is truly one of the great inventions of our era. Just a couple of taps on your phone while leaving the bar and — boom — within minutes there’s a car with a driver ready to take you wherever you want. Maybe it’s drunkenly through the Taco Bell drive-thru. Maybe it’s to the girl you just texted “u up?” to. Maybe it’s to something really boring, like the airport for a business trip. Whatever. Uber is amazing.
Today Uber raised some money to become the biggest privately-held company out there right now. They are valued at $51 billion, which is around how much Facebook was estimated to be worth before going public. Have to think an IPO is on the way, right? Via the WSJ:
Uber Technologies Inc. has closed a new round of funding valuing the five-year-old ride-hailing company at close to $51 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, equaling Facebook Inc.’s record for a private venture-backed startup.
Uber raised close to $1 billion in the round, one of the people said, bringing its total funding to more than $5 billion. The San Francisco company initially had briefed investors on a plan to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.
Investors in the latest round include Microsoft Corp. and the investment arm of Indian media conglomerate Bennett Coleman & Co., another person familiar with the matter said, as Uber seeks allies to help bolster its technology and expand in large markets outside the U.S.
Man. That’s a lot of money. Uber’s founders be like…
While the rest of us be like…
And just think, it’s all for getting your drunk ass home SAFELY from the bar. What an amazing world we live in.
Related: This San Diego Surfer Bro Tweeted ‘Hire Me’ To Uber’s Founder And Now He’s A Billionaire