On-demand driver app and transportation company Uber has raised a new round of financing at a $3.5 billion valuation, according new filing.
AllThingsD was first to the paperwork.
TPG purchased 775,092 shares at $114.03 a piece for a ~ $90 million investment. It's not surprising a big private equity firm got in the mix; Uber was hunting for an investor capable of cutting a 9-figure check.
Google Ventures also invested; AllThingsD's Kara Swisher says that's because Larry Page personally "intervened" and made sure the deal got done. Its investment may be worth $250 million. Existing investor Benchmark also purchased preferred shares for $142.54 each. Menlo Ventures, which has been a big supporter of CEO Travis Kalanick and Uber, is not listed in the filing.
$3.5 billion sounds like a lofty valuation for Uber, and it's likely higher than Kalanick initially set his sights on. But here's a few reasons the mobile-powered car service is attractive to investors:
It's a category leader disrupting the transportation industry to the point that it has changed laws in multiple cities and received Cease and Desists from others. In addition, Uber is growing 18% month over month and it is profitable in all of its earliest cities (New York and San Francisco, to name a couple). It's reportedly generating $125 million this year. The fact that Uber has a business model that's working and can be tweaked then replicated around the world also makes it seem like a safe(r) bet.
Here's the filing, below via ATD:
