Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

Uber Filing in Delaware Shows TPG Investment at $3.5 Billion Valuation; Google Ventures Also In

According to a Delaware filing by Uber Technologies, it has sold stock in the fast-growing privately held transportation service to private equity giant TPG. In addition, according to sources who have seen other stock documents, Uber has also taken a major investment from Google Ventures.

The overall valuation for the San Francisco company, according to the document — filed on August 1 — and also sources, is $3.5 billion.

AllThingsD had reported in late July that Uber was raising at such a valuation and that both TPG and Google Ventures were the principal new investors.

At the time, Uber management declined to comment on rumors and even tried to tamp them down.

The public filing, which is below, indicates that TPG has bought 775,092 shares of Series C-2 preferred shares at $114.03. That is an investment of just under $90 million. According to sources, TPG also bought some shares from existing investors, including longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur Garrett Camp.

In addition, current Uber investor Benchmark has bought an additional 105,234 shares of Series C-1 preferred shares at $142.54. According to the document, that leaves a large number of C-1 shares — about 1.8 million — that sources said had been sold to Google Ventures for about $250 million total. Google is not named in the public document.

Though pricey, the latest scramble to be in the Uber funding round was apparently very competitive. Sources said Google won the investment because of direct intervention by CEO Larry Page, who met with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Interestingly, another major venture investor, Menlo Ventures, does not appear to be in this round.

Uber has been on a roll of late, as reported by Liz Gannes:

“A year and a half ago, Uber raised $37.5 million in 2011 from investors including Menlo Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Goldman Sachs. At the time, the company was valued at $330 million.

The ensuing months have been fruitful. Sources said Uber is now on track to bring in about $125 million in total revenue this year, much higher than had been projected, and that number is growing quickly.”

Enjoy reading about it all below, as I await comment from all the various and sundry parties:

Uber Technologies

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