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In the 21st century, every tick-tock of the clock counts and in such a scenario even the idea of waiting in queues for buses or autos does not seem good. Uber Technologies, Inc., came up with an idea to make every tick-tock count and enhance the traveling experience. Uber was founded in the year 2009 by Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar and Travis Kalanick.
Uber hails from the States and has revolutionized the way people travel. Starting as a huge player in the ride-hailing market, Uber later spanned its way into the food delivery services, micro-mobility systems (with bikes and scooters), and peer-to-peer ride systems.
The company focused on the people's needs for everyday traveling and came out with a solution to providing an efficient, optimum, and hassle-free traveling experience to its customers. Over the years it has gained popularity and has become the one-stop riding solution for many people. Uber has a huge base of over 93 million monthly active users, as of 2022. So, let's binge into knowing this ride giant.
An Amazing Startup Story of Uber awaits your reading! Know all about Uber. Its Founders, History, Business Model, Funding, Founders, Growth, Acquisitions and Success Story.
Uber - Company Highlights
| Company Name | Uber |
|---|---|
| Headquarter | San Francisco ( USA) |
| Founders | Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar & Travis Kalanick |
| CEO | Dara Khosrowshahi |
| Sector | Transportation |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Revenue | $5.78 billion (Q4 2021) |
| Total Funding | ~ $25.2 billion (2022) |
| Parent Organization | Uber Technologies, Inc. |
| Subsidiaries | Uber Eats, Jump, Otto, Postmates, Careem, Cornershop Inc. and More |
| Website | uber.com |
Discover more about Uber Startup Story:
Uber - About
Uber - USP
Uber - Industry
Uber - Founders and Team
Uber - Startup Story
Uber - Name and Logo
Uber - Business and Revenue Model
Uber - Funding & Investors
Uber - Investments
Uber - Growth and Revenue
Uber - Challenges Faced
Uber - Competitors
Uber - Future Plans
Uber - About
USA - based ride-hailing company Uber was founded in the year 2009 under the name Ubercab. Uber has been so visible in sharing economy that the post effects of Uber are termed uberization. Uber's cab services occupied a whopping 67% market share in the United States in 2019. While Uber's food delivery services Uber Eats has a share of 24% in the food delivery sector in 2018. The first national expansion of Uber Cab came in the year 2011, which lead the entire New York to witness the presence of Uber. The decade-long journey for Uber has seen various milestones of success, findings, controversies, and expansion and these altogether have made Uber a household term. At present, Uber cabs operate in more than 72 countries and provide you an option to choose from a wide range of options to travel, from economical rides to two-wheelers, and sedans to SUVs.
Besides, not just cabs, Uber is experimenting to expand in new fields with its services such as Uber Eats (food delivery) and Uber Freight ( logistics). Again through Uber Advanced Technologies Group, Uber is trying to make new developments in the field of self-driving cars.
Shubham Kumar
Uber - USP
To start with, people don't have to wait for their rides anymore, it's just a one-tap thing now. Also, users get a chance to navigate their journey, and payment is also eased with the facilities of the Uber application. Certain highlights help Uber to grab greater revenues.
1. A CAR FOR EVERY CHOICE- With segments like Uber X, Uber Black, Uber taxi, and Uber SUV they got a choice for everyone.
2. PRICE SURGE TECHNOLOGY-The price for the ride varies keeping certain parameters such as demand increase, number of drivers available, number of requests made, etc.
3. RIDES OTHER THAN CARS- Uber has not limited itself to just cars. They have taken their game a notch higher by adding boats, helicopters as well as some other Vehicles to their List. They have a motorcycle pickup service (Paris), a delivery service(San Francisco), and an ice-cream truck delivery service too. But, these options are available in selected geographical locations but it has led them to add new streams of revenue to its business model.
Uber - Industry
The market size of taxi is huge and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.95%. The increasing need for travelling, ride-hailing and ride-sharing services are the main motivators of this growth. The market for the Indian online tax services is set to grow at a rate of 12.93% when last reported in FY20.
Uber - Founders and Team
Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar, and Travis Kalanick are the founders of Uber. Dara Khosrowshahi is currently the CEO of Uber.
Garret Camp
Garret Camp is a serial entrepreneur and billionaire who founded several companies like Expa ( a company that helps startup founders in developing and launching new products) and web discovery platform 'StumbleUpon' which later came to be known as 'Mix'.
Travis Kalanick
Travis Kalanick is credited with founding Scour (a peer-to-peer file sharing application) and Red Swoosh (a peer-to-peer content delivery network), before bringing Uber to life. From 2010 to 2017, Kalanick served as the CEO of Uber. However, in 2017, Kalanick exited Uber owing to certain controversies.
Oscar Salazar
Oscar Salazar, the founding CTO of Uber is the one who created the initial prototypes for Uber’s customer app, driver app, and dispatch engine. He was on board with Uber from 2009-2011.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi initially started as an analyst and later served as CEO of Expedia before joining Uber officially in 2017.
The Uber team currently operates with over 29K employees.
Uber - Startup Story
It was in 2008 when Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp were attending a conference in Paris. One night during the conference, the duo was looking for a cab, but they could not find any, which made them realize that finding a ride when needed is quite a hassle, and any technology that will ease the process will surely be a hit. However, the initial idea was that of a timeshare limo service, where a limousine (a luxury sedan car) will be owned by many owners on a time-sharing basis.
After Camp came back to San Francisco, he kept contemplating the idea and even bought the domain name UberCab.com. Till mid-2009, Camp along with his friends Oscar Salazar and Conrad Whelan built the very first prototype of UberCab. Camp then approached Kalanick to join UberCab. In early 2010, UberCab's service was first tested in New York with just 3 cabs. In May 2010, UberCab was officially launched in San Francisco.
Uber - Name and Logo
The name Uber is derived from the German word meaning "above all the rest" a principle Kalanick and Camp wanted for their fledgling company.
Rishita Jain
Uber - Business and Revenue Model
Uber has a transparent business model. Uber connects passengers who are looking for cabs to cab drivers. While Uber does not have its own cars, Uber drivers use their own cars to provide cab services and pay a percentage of every fare received as commission to Uber.
Uber charges 25% on all fares from its driver-partners. However, there are many reports that hold that the company cuts other hidden charges, thus making the commission charged by Uber higher than 25%.
Uber makes money via the commission it receives from the customers as a result of their trips. Uber takes around 20-30% of the fare, on an average, which is charged from the drivers. On busier occasions, Uber puts a surcharge, when it charges somewhere between 1.5X, 2X, 3X or even more based on the demand of the passengers.
Uber - Acquisitions
To date, Uber has made 13 acquisitions -
- In March 2015, Uber acquired mapping startup deCarta.
- In August 2016, Uber acquired self driving truck startup Otto. Otto is looking after Uber's self drive division.
- In December 2016, Uber acquired AI startup Geometric Intelligence to do research and improvise its AI technology.
- App building startup Complex Polygon got acquired by Uber in July 2017.
- Again in July 2017 itself, Uber acquired social app development startup Swipe Labs.
- In April 2018, Uber acquired bike-share startup Jump Bikes, to help Uber integrate the bike-sharing option in Uber App.
- Uber acquired Careem, which was its competitor in the Middle East, in March 2019.
- In June 2019, Uber acquired Mighty AI, in its effort to develop self-driving cars.
- In October 2019, Uber acquired Cornershop, an on-demand grocery delivery service for the Latin American Market.
- In July 2020, Uber announced Postmate's acquisition. Uber acquired Postmates for $2.65 Bn. Postmates is a leader in delivering your favorite restaurants and a whole lot more on-demand. The consumer-facing Postmates and Uber Eats apps will continue to run separately, supported by a more efficient, combined merchant and delivery network.
- Uber acquired Routematch on 16 July 2020. Routematch is known to deliver accessible and inclusive technologies for riders of all abilities. Its mission is to create sustainable mobility ecosystems that leave no person behind. Uber believes that inclusive transportation software can help agencies deliver more value.
- Uber announced the Autocab acquisition on 6th August 2020. Autocab provides private hire and taxi operators with technology to run their business, including booking and dispatch software, and also connects them with trips through their iGo marketplace.
- On Feb 2, 2021 Uber and Drizly announced that Uber is acquiring Drizly for approximately $1.1 Bn in stock and cash. Drizly is an demand alcohol marketplace in the US. Drizly works with thousands of local merchants to provide consumers with an incredible selection of liquor with competitive, transparent pricing. This platform will further be integrated with Uber eats while also maintaining a separate Drizly app.
Here's having a look at the Uber acquisitions:
| Company Acquired | Date | Deal Value |
|---|---|---|
| Drizly | February 2, 2021 | $1.1 bn |
| Autocab | August 6, 2020 | - |
| Routematch Software | July 16, 2020 | - |
| Postmates | July 6, 2020 | $2.7 bn |
| Cornershop | October 11, 2019 | - |
| Mighty AI | June 18, 2019 | - |
| Careem | March 26, 2019 | $3.1 bn |
| JUMP Bikes | April 4, 2018 | $200 mn |
| Complex Polygon | July 14, 2017 | - |
| Swipe Labs | July 14, 2017 | - |
| Geometric Intelligence | December 2016 | - |
| Otto | August 2016 | - |
| deCarta | March 2015 | - |
Rishabh Rathi
Piyush Mishra
Uber - Funding & Investors
The current valuation of Uber is $62.63 billion. Uber has witnessed a total of 33 funding rounds and has accumulated total funding of $25.2 billion. The number of lead investors of Uber is 20+ whereas the total number of Uber investors is 105+. Here are the details of Uber's funding rounds so far -
| Date | Stage | Amount | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 14, 2020 | Post IPO Debt | $500 Million | - |
| April 26, 2019 | Post IPO Equity | $500 Million | PayPal |
| March 25, 2019 | Secondary Market | - | - |
| February 1, 2019 | Venture Round | - | - |
| October 18, 2018 | Debt Finacing | $2 Billion | - |
| October 10, 2018 | Secondary Market | - | - |
| August 27, 2018 | Corporate Round | $500 Million | Toyota Motor Corporation |
| May 23, 2018 | Secondary Market | $600 | TPG, Coatue Management, SharesPost Investment Management & Altimeter Capital |
| December 28, 2017 | Secondary Market | $7.7 Billion | Soft Bank Vision Fund |
| December 28, 2017 | Venture Round | $1.3 Billion | SoftBank Vision Fund |
| April, 2017 | Series G | - | Axel Springer & G Squared |
| July, 2016 | Debt Financing | $1.2 Billion | Morgan Stanley |
| June, 2016 | Series G | - | Aboud Khaddam (Managing Partner, London Impact Ventures |
| June, 2016 | Series G | $3.5 Billion | Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund |
| February, 2016 | Private Equity | $200 Million | LetterOne |
| December, 2015 | Series G | $7.3 Billion | Public Investment Fund (Saudi Arabia), FotRoss Ventures |
| August, 2015 | Private Equity | $100 Million | Tata Capital |
| May, 2015 | Series F | $ 1 Billion | Microsoft, Bennet Coleman and Co Ltd., AppWorks Ventures, MSA, 408 Ventures |
| December, 2014 | Series E | $ 2.8 Billion | Foundation Capital, New Enterprise Associates |
| June, 2014 | Series D | $1.4 Billion | GV |
| August, 2013 | Series C | $364.2 Million | GV |
| December, 2011 | Series B | $43.8 Million | Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos, Lowercase Capital, Troy Carter, Shawn "Jay-z" Carter, BeSignatures Capital |
| February, 2011 | Series A | $14.1 Million | Innovation Endeavours, First Round Capital, Benchmark, Alfred Lin, Lowercase Capital, Founder Collective, Lead Edge Capital, Kees Koolen, Structure Capital |
| September, 2010 | Seed | $1.6 Million | Alfred Lin, Garret Camp, Jason Calacanis, Lowercase Capital, Naval Ravikant, Founder Colletive, Brian Chesky, Mitchell Kapor, Cyan Banister |
Rishabh Rathi
Uber - Investments
Uber has made a total of 22 investments. Here's a look at the last 10 investments of Uber:
| Name of the Company | Date | Lead Investor | Funding Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serve Robotics | December 6, 2021 | - | Seed Round |
| Aurora | November 4, 2021 | - | Post-IPO Equity |
| Lime | November 4, 2021 | - | Convertible Note |
| Joby Aviation | August 10, 2021 | - | Post-IPO Equity |
| Waabi | June 8, 2021 | - | Series A |
| Serve Robotics | March 2, 2021 | - | Seed Round |
| Joby Aviation | December 8, 2020 | Yes | Corporate Round |
| Aurora | December 7, 2020 | Yes | Corporate Round |
| Lime | May 7, 2020 | Yes | Venture Round |
| Joby Aviation | January 16, 2020 | - | Series C |
Vidhi Punamiya
Uber - Growth and Revenue
Some major growth milestones achieved by Uber are -
- Uber is currently operating in over 600 cities, across 72+ countries.
- There are over 3.9 million Uber drivers worldwide.
- Over 10 billion trips have been completed by Uber worldwide.
- Each day, over 14 million Uber trips are completed.
- If we look at the pre-IPO figures, Uber has received an investment of $24.7 billion now.
- Uber's valuation was $72 billion in 2018, which currently stands at around $62 billion in 2022.
- Uber went public on May 9th, 2019, and Uber's stock is one of the best performers on NYSE.
- Uber faced a 21 percent decrease and generated $11.1 Bn. The decrease in revenue is the result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic shutting down its ride-hailing operations.
- Uber Eats increased revenues by over 200% in 2020
- 93 million people used Uber in Q4 2020, which is lesser than 111 million active users in 2019
Uber India has resumed with its initiative of adding the Mumbai's iconic kaali-peeli taxis on its platform, as per the news dated April 9, 2022. The introduction of the kaali-peelis was first started in 2017, but later that was scaled down. Uber currently has 5K+ kaali-peeli (black and yellow) traditional taxis on its platform but only 1/5th of them are currently active.
Uber has also listed the yellow taxis too in New York recently and for this reason it has joined hands with Curb and CMT, which is aimed at allowing the riders to book taxis on the Uber cab app. There were many such partnerships of Uber that were materialised in the countries of South Korea, Spain, Germany, and Japan. The New York yellow cabs via Uber will be operational by the end of June 2022, as per the recent reports.
Looking at the Uber Q4 2021 revenues, the company has earned $5.78 bn of revenue, which has surged by 83% from what the company earned in Q4 2020.
Uber - Challenges Faced
Throughout the years Uber has faced numerous challenges, the most recent among Uber's challenges is witnessed in the India market, which the American ride hailing giant is planning to dominate in the coming years. However, this is not becoming possible mainly due to the large scale cancellations done by the Uber drivers, which is a major repellant for the Uber users. Both in the case of two of major cab aggregators of India - Ola and Uber, the cab drivers are notorious for their repeated cancellations either after finding out that the mode of the payment is online or as they learn about the destination. This painpoint has already been addressed by the Ola CEO and Founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, when he replied that the drivers will get to see an approximate location and will know of the model of the payment when they accept their rides, Uber is yet to address this issue.
Ride-hailing apps like Uber has posed a deadly competition for traditional taxi service. Uber has become the obvious choice for many over traditional taxi services owing to the many facilities it provides such as ease in booking and low fares. Thus taxi drivers in different parts of the world have been protesting against Uber and the like from time to time.
Again, protests have been staged by Uber Drivers in different countries as they are not receiving enough income as promised by the company.
Besides incidents of sexual assault and murder during Uber rides have also been posing a problem for the company from time to time. In its first safety report published by Uber in 2019, it came to light that in 2018, 3,045 sexual assaults, 9 murders, and 58 deaths in car crashes happened during Uber rides in the USA itself. In India also there are many incidents where female passengers have reported physical assault during Uber rides, which has been a serious concern for the company. To tackle this Uber has taken steps to check the criminal records of its drivers and is also working towards adding security features in the app.
The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has also hit the company hard. Uber's ride-hailing business dropped by almost 80% during the crisis, which led the company to lay off over 6,700 employees just within a month. While Uber Eats has not suffered the blow that Covid -19 has bought, Uber is also reshuffling some of its divisions and closing 45 offices globally, as revealed by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
Uber - Competitors
Uber has numerous competitors when it comes to its core business as a mobility servicer provider. Some of the Uber competitors include:
- Ola Cabs
- Lyft
- Grab
- DidiChuxing
- Curb
- Public transport
- Local taxis
Uber - Future Plans
While ride-hailing will remain the core business of Uber for the nearing years, Dara Khosrowshahi sees a potential world outside cars too. They are aiming at adding buses and trains to their vehicles list too. The pilot project as reported has already started in Denver, where people will be able to see bus and train timings via the Uber app and also be able to buy tickets through the app. Uber elevate is another vision the company is having, which is an aerial ride-sharing system that Uber is planning to introduce in the future. Overall Uber is putting in extra efforts to become true partners of the cities for the long term. With great planning and an awesome team, Uber is surely bound to go places!
Sarika Anand
FAQs
Who is Uber Founder?
Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar, and Travis Kalanick are the founders of Uber.
When was Uber Founded?
Uber was founded in 2009.
How much is Uber Revenue?
Uber's revenues in Q4 2021 was recorded at $5.78 bn, which increased by 83% when compared with the revenues the company received in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
Who is Uber Owner?
Uber's Parent Company is Uber Technologies, Inc. It was founded by Garrett Camp, Oscar Salazar, and Travis Kalanick.
Who are the competitors of Uber?
The Uber competitors are:
- Ola Cabs
- Grab
- DidiChuxing
- Curb
- Local Taxis
- Public Transport
How to start your own Uber business?
Starting your own Uber business is really easy. No matter where you belong from, if your area is serviceable, then you can certainly make a business for yourself out of the Uber services. You can either serve as an Uber driver partner, lend your own car to Uber or operate as a fleet operator.
What is the Uber trading name?
The Uber trading name is Uber Technologies Inc.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Chayanika Goswami Date :-April 12, 2022 at 05:38PM