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Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

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Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#11

Post by adventured »

chollida1 wrote: post #5

So by now Uber has raised capital and debt from: - some pretty famous angle investors - some pretty famous venture capital funds - some pretty famous investment banks - some pretty famous private equity firms - some pretty famous hedge funds - some pretty famous mutual funds It's worth asking, if they have reached the point where their success becomes less about their execution, though that's still important, and mor…

Definitely. It's one of the best reasons to pursue the famous venture capital firms. John Doerr has a lot of important people's phone numbers, and they will take his call (with the same obviously being true about maybe two dozen other famous investors). It's why Dropbox put Condoleezza Rice on its board. It's why Gilead had Donald Rumsfeld as its Chairman. It's why Theranos has an all-star line-up on its board.

Business is, always has been, and always will be, heavily about networks. You can do it without them, it's just drastically harder.

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#12

Post by matthewowen »

chollida1 wrote: post #5

So by now Uber has raised capital and debt from: - some pretty famous angle investors - some pretty famous venture capital funds - some pretty famous investment banks - some pretty famous private equity firms - some pretty famous hedge funds - some pretty famous mutual funds It's worth asking, if they have reached the point where their success becomes less about their execution, though that's still important, and mor…

My understanding is that Uber is currently providing new hires with RSUs, not options (so valuation growth isn't necessarily necessary). I could be misinformed.

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#13

Post by marcusgarvey »

chollida1 wrote: post #5

So by now Uber has raised capital and debt from: - some pretty famous angle investors - some pretty famous venture capital funds - some pretty famous investment banks - some pretty famous private equity firms - some pretty famous hedge funds - some pretty famous mutual funds It's worth asking, if they have reached the point where their success becomes less about their execution, though that's still important, and mor…

Your question about self-fulfilling prophecy is very relevant to a recent piece written by a transportation expert. Among other points he makes:

>Uber-type companies need to be understood as a radical departure from Amazon/EBay type models. Instead of displacing competitors through actual efficiencies, or by creating entirely new markets, its model is entirely based on getting the world to believe that it will inevitably dominate the entire industry. This requires aggressively suppressing any discussion of empirical economic evidence (which would undermine its case) and emphasizing the factors driving inevitability--the brilliance of its early stage investors, the ruthlessness of management, and the raw political power of the company’s wealthy supporters. PR is a component of every start-up; at Amazon/EBay it played a supporting role and relied heavily on economic evidence of competitive strengths, but at Uber PR is the heart of the plan, and replaces the need to figure out how to provide much better service at much lower cost.

https://pando.com/2015/12/01/has-pando-missed-heart-uber-pro...

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#14

Post by myth_buster »

MitjaBezensek wrote: post #4

That's close to Basecamps valutation :) https://medium.com/@jasonfried/press-release-basecamp-valuat...

Reminded me of the SV episode where Russ Hanneman asks Richard to not generate revenue because once you do people would start quantifying it.

If they don't generate revenue then the sky is the limit!

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#15

Post by tomasien »

myth_buster wrote: post #14
MitjaBezensek wrote: post #4

That's close to Basecamps valutation :) https://medium.com/@jasonfried/press-release-basecamp-valuat...

Reminded me of the SV episode where Russ Hanneman asks Richard to not generate revenue because once you do people would start quantifying it. If they don't generate revenue then the sky is the limit!

They make a ton of revenue....

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#16

Post by myth_buster »

tomasien wrote: post #15
myth_buster wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminded me of the SV episode where Russ Hanneman asks Richard to not generate revenue because once you do people would start quantifying it. If they don't generate revenue then the sky is the limit!

They make a ton of revenue....

  They make a ton of revenue....
I was commenting on the medium article linked which said...

  In order to increase the value of the company, Basecamp has decided to stop 
  generating revenue. “When it comes to valuation, making money is a real 
  obstacle. Our profitability has been a real drag on our valuation,” said Mr. 
  Fried. “Once you have profits, it’s impossible to just make stuff up. That’s 
  why we’re switching to a ‘freeconomics’ model. We’ll give away everything for 
  free and let the market speculate about how much money we could make if we 
  wanted to make money. That way, the sky’s the limit!”

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#17

Post by gmarx »

marcusgarvey wrote: post #13
chollida1 wrote: post #5

So by now Uber has raised capital and debt from: - some pretty famous angle investors - some pretty famous venture capital funds - some pretty famous investment banks - some pretty famous private equity firms - some pretty famous hedge funds - some pretty famous mutual funds It's worth asking, if they have reached the point where their success becomes less about their execution, though that's still important, and mor…

Your question about self-fulfilling prophecy is very relevant to a recent piece written by a transportation expert. Among other points he makes: >Uber-type companies need to be understood as a radical departure from Amazon/EBay type models. Instead of displacing competitors through actual efficiencies, or by creating entirely new markets, its model is entirely based on getting the world to believe that it will inevit…

I think they are creating a new market. People now use Uber in situations in which they never would have thought to take a cab. That is not to say this valuation makes sense

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#18

Post by jscottmiller »

prbuckley wrote: post #7

Lyft "lost $127 million in the first half of 2015 on $46.7 million in revenue, according to the documents. Lyft said last month that it has gained market share in key markets, such as San Francisco, and has a gross revenue “run rate” of $1 billion." I had no idea lyft was losing 3x the their revenue. That is crazy.

Anecdotal evidence, but I've hardly paid for a Lyft ride (aside from driver tips) for the last few months. This thanks to a long-running 50% off promotion in my area (Austin, TX, USA) and a pile of promotional credit added to my account. I wonder how much of this loss is due to these marketing efforts.

Now that the promotion is over and credit depleted, my default ride app is back to Uber.

Re: Uber Raises Funding at $62.5B Valuation

#19

Post by blizkreeg »

Uber is now too big to fail. Possibly the most important company this decade. I never cease to be amazed by their phenomenal execution across the world.

I was in Mexico City last week where I truly came to understand the enormous impact Uber as a company has had in these past few years. The service was highly prevalent, popular, and the experience was completely seamless — just like in the US. It barely skipped a beat. Their execution is likely a prime business case study in that no other company has built a technology business that has a huge, real-life logistical component this fast — and in dozens of cities around the world, spanning an equal number of ways of doing business and cultural barriers.

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