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Uber is reportedly in talks for a new round of funding that would value the company as high as $40 billion, twice its current value.
Uber seeks to raise $1 billion, for a valuation of between $35 billion and $40 billion, unidentified sources told Bloomberg. T. Rowe Price is reportedly among the company’s new investors, along with existing investor Fidelity Investments. The investment would essentially double the value of Uber since its previous funding round this past summer.
Uber declined to comment on the report.
The reported new funding round comes five months after the company announced it had raised $1.2 billion from a consortium of institutional investors, mutual funds, private equity and venture capital partners. The highest-valued venture-backed company in the world, Uber saw its valuation quadruple in the year leading up to its June funding.
The startup is at the forefront of the emerging economy of on-demand services in which everything from haircuts to snowplows to ice cream on a hot day and even beer and marijuana are just a smartphone away.
Uber, which uses a smartphone app to connect riders with drivers, has grown rapidly since its launch five years ago. It now has cars driving around 204 cities in 45 countries, and the company claims to cover 55 percent of the US population with its offering.
The company’s growth has come despite resistance from government regulators and taxi commissions. Last week, the San Francisco startup raised the ire of customers when it was reported that the company was misusing their data to track a reporter on two occasions without her knowledge.
