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SoftBank Funding May Prompt Uber To Review Game Plan In Southeast Asia

21Nov By reutersNo Comments

BUSINESS

SoftBank Funding May Prompt Uber To Review Game Plan In Southeast Asia

SoftBank Group’s multi-billion dollar investment in Uber Technologies Inc opens up the possibility of combining it with other ride-hailing assets the Japanese group owns in a consolidation of a rapidly growing business across Asia, industry sources say. Uber Technologies Inc said on Nov. 12 that a planned deal with a consortium led by SoftBank and Dragoneer Investment Group was moving forward. The consortium plans to inject $1 billion to $1.25 billion into Uber, and buy up to 17 percent of existing shares in a secondary transaction. SoftBank has also been a big investor in Uber’s rivals across Asia, including Southeast Asia’s Grab, China’s DiDi Chuxing, and India’s Ola, as it works to achieve founder Masayoshi Son’s vision of a future driven by artificial intelligence and interconnec...

Walk A Little To Use Uber ‘Express Pool’ For Cheapest Fares

14Nov By RishabhNo Comments

News

Walk A Little To Use Uber ‘Express Pool’ For Cheapest Fares

Uber has now come up with another plan to offer another 25-30 percent slash on the prices of its share rides. With Uber Express Pool, it is asking you to walk a few blocks to reach the pickup hotspot and get off at the destination hotspot, which may be a minutes walk away from your actual destination. Uber 'Express Pool' will surely provide the cheapest of the options out of its all other options. Here's how it works: This feature will access the map, and depending upon the easily located spots that are easier to drive and close to the origin or destination of various people seeking POOL in those areas; will dynamically create "smart spots". Now people willing to hail Express POOL will have to walk upto theses Smart spots and walk upto their destinations after getting off at othe...

Uber Locks On Multibillion Dollar Deal With Japanese SoftBank

13Nov By RishabhNo Comments

USA

Uber Locks On Multibillion Dollar Deal With Japanese SoftBank

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]apanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation SoftBank Group has reached a multibillion-dollar deal with San Francisco based Uber Inc, it confirmed in a statement. Although the details of the deal have not been yet disclosed, but as per the reports, the deal could be worth up to $10 billion of Uber's stocks. It is also estimated that this deal would be a resolver of legal battles between Uber's former CEO Travis Kalanick and prominent shareholders. Venture capital firm Benchmark, an early investor with a board seat in the ride-services company, and Kalanick have reached an agreement over terms of the SoftBank investment. “We’ve entered into an agreement with a consortium led by SoftBank and Dragoneer on a potential investment,” an Uber spokesm...

Lyft May Claim A Third Of U.S. Market Soon!

11Nov By RishabhNo Comments

USA

Lyft May Claim A Third Of U.S. Market Soon!

Lyft is expected to take over a significant amount of U.S. market, and has gained much on its rival Uber Technologies Inc, according to a private Lyft investor report obtained by Bloomberg. The investor is depicting in the report that by the end of the year, Lyft's shares will see a boost in its U.S. ride-hailing business by about 61 percent. The gains that the company got are under the disturbed reputation of Uber after a series of events like executives stepping down and the distress among its drivers. These series of events has kept Uber distracted for a long time, while it was busy with internal management conflicts, Lyft gained on that and may emerge in the coming months. Besides gaining market share, Lyft has boosted its profitability and sales, the document mentioned. Accor...

Will SoftBank Ditch Uber And Invest In Rival Lyft?

7Nov By RishabhNo Comments

BUSINESS

Will SoftBank Ditch Uber And Invest In Rival Lyft?

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son on Monday said he could still walk away from the deal between SoftBank Group Corp and Uber, after the negotiations for stake in the cab aggregator platform. He also added that perhaps the company may even invest in Uber's rival Lyft. “Depending on the price and conditions, it is wholly possible we could shift our investment to the other main company Lyft. It is wholly possible,” Son said at a press conference following SoftBank’s second-quarter earnings. “We won’t know until the very end.” The negotiations are on regarding the price of the stakes in Uber, half of which will come from existing Uber shareholders, and if arriving at a price becomes difficult, he will invest in Lyft Inc. He also mentioned about the conditions such as the number of board members, th...

Uber’s European Policy Chief Christopher Burghardt Quits

18Oct By reutersNo Comments

News

Uber’s European Policy Chief Christopher Burghardt Quits

Uber’s European policy chief Christopher Burghardt has quit to join the electric vehicle charging network company Chargepoint, the latest senior figure to leave the taxi app, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Burghardt, the head of policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, departs after less than two years with the group, and will become managing director for Chargepoint in Europe in November, the FT said. No one was immediately available from Uber to comment. RELATED Now Uber’s Chief Legal Officer Set To Leave The Company Earlier this month, Uber’s top boss in Britain also quit the Silicon Valley company, which was told last month by London’s transport regulator (TfL) that its license to operate in the British capital would not be renewed. It is appealing t...

Uber Appeals On Legal Decision To Revoke Its London Licence

13Oct By reutersNo Comments

USA

Uber Appeals On Legal Decision To Revoke Its London Licence

Uber lodged a court appeal on Friday to overturn a decision by London’s transport regulator that stripped the taxi app of its operating licence in its most important European market, the first stop on what is set to be a long legal road. Transport for London (TfL) shocked the Silicon Valley firm last month by deeming it unfit to run a taxi service and refusing to renew its licence, citing its approach to reporting serious criminal offences and background checks on drivers. The appeal marks the beginning of months of legal wrangling in a battle that had pitched one of the world’s richest cities against a Silicon Valley giant known for forays into new markets across the globe that have stoked competition for established cab companies. Uber, whose backers include Goldman Sachs and Bl...

Uber, Ola’s Indian Legal Woes Put SoftBank’s Funding in Firing Line

12Oct By reutersNo Comments

News

Uber, Ola’s Indian Legal Woes Put SoftBank’s Funding in Firing Line

Indian taxi company Meru Cabs has stepped up its legal challenge against local competitor Ola and U.S. rival Uber, alleging the firms are abusing their market position, and believes that planned investments in both by Japan’s SoftBank underscore its view. The head of Meru Cabs said the company has filed four new complaints with the country’s antitrust watchdog, claiming that Uber and Ola are abusing their dominance in four different cities by burning vast sums of investor funds to distort the market. “Even before there is any merger or alliance between the two through global investors, there is already a unified monopoly,” Meru’s CEO Nilesh Sangoi said. Though Meru lost an earlier antitrust suit versus Ola, lawyers and industry sources said that moves by SoftBank - already a major inv...

Ola Confirms $1.1 Bn Fund Raise From Tencent Holdings

11Oct By RishabhNo Comments

FUNDING

Ola Confirms $1.1 Bn Fund Raise From Tencent Holdings

One of India's unicorn, Ola, operated by ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd has confirmed that it has closed a $1.1 billion funding from Tencent Holdings, a leading Chinese internet company. The round also saw participation from its existing investor- SoftBank Group and other new US-based financial investors. Ola also said that it is in advanced talks with existing and another investor to raise additional $1 billion, thus rounding off what may turn out to be a $2 billion funding round. After a billion scale funding received by Flipkart and Paytm, Ola is the third one to receive such massive funding this year. Flipkart leads them by having raised at least $2.8 billion in two separate tranches from SoftBank, Tencent, eBay and Microsoft, followed by Paytm which raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank....

Looking For An Uber? Book It Through Snapchat’s ‘Context Cards’

11Oct By reutersNo Comments

News

Looking For An Uber? Book It Through Snapchat’s ‘Context Cards’

Snap Inc’s Snapchat on Tuesday introduced “context cards”, a new feature that will allow users to book an Uber ride or reserve a seat at a restaurant without leaving the messaging app. The new feature is aimed at increasing the time a user spends on the app by providing contextual location-based search, potentially helping the company to get more advertising dollars. Snapchat, popular with young people for applying bunny faces or other filters to their pictures, competes for ad dollars with the likes of Facebook Inc’s Instagram. The new cards allow users viewing stories to swipe up and get relevant information about a business such as reviews, directions or contact information, the company said in a blog post. RELATED Snapchat Removes Al Jazeera Channel In Saudi Arabia ...

Uber Suspends Unlicensed Service in Norway in Change of Tack

9Oct By reutersNo Comments

News

Uber Suspends Unlicensed Service in Norway in Change of Tack

Uber said on Monday it would suspend its unlicensed service UberPOP in Oslo until Norway introduces new rules, as the U.S. ride-hailing app adopts a more conciliatory tone with national authorities. The move follows a similar one-year suspension in Finland in July to allow a new taxi law to come into effect, however there is no set date for when UberPOP will be reintroduced in Norway. The U.S. ride-hailing company has come under fierce pressure from traditional taxi drivers and regulators across Europe who accuse it of unfair competition and skirting traditional licensing rules. UberPOP has already been suspended in several European capitals, including Paris and Brussels, and Uber was recently humbled when it lost its licence to operate in London. “We’ve learned the hard way that...

Ola Raises $2 Bn From SoftBank Group And Tencent Holdings

3Oct By RishabhNo Comments

FUNDING

Ola Raises $2 Bn From SoftBank Group And Tencent Holdings

Another Indian Unicorn saw $2 billion fund raising on Monday. Ola- India's ride hailing company raises $2 billion from SoftBank Group Corp and Tencent Holdings Ltd, another high profile funding in this year after Flipkart which competes with Amazon. Although as per the Bloomberg's report the amount is not fixed for now and can change in the process. However as per The Economic Times Tencent has finalized an investment of $400 million in Ola, valuing the company over $3.8 billion. The paperwork from both the companies has been finalized and awaits approval from CCI. This funding will impact its rival Uber's position in India, on the one end where it is facing licence ban in London and multiple allegations. Other backers in the ride-hailing startup’s latest financing round included ...