Uber Is Looking For Another $1.5 Billion In Funding At A $50 Billion Valuation

Always. Be. Raising.

On-demand transportation an logistics company Uber could raise another $1.5 billion to $2 billion in funding, adding to an already massive war chest as the company expands into new markets and new verticals around the world.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the latest fundraising effort could value the company above $50 billion, which would put it in the same league as Facebook in its last private funding round before going public. The new valuation would also once again make it the most highly valued private company in the world by topping consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi, which was valued at $45 billion in its most recent round of funding.

Uber has already raised some $5 billion in debt and equity since being founded five years ago, but what’s another $1.5 billion between friends? The company has been growing rapidly, after all, and it continues to experiment with new services and features that could complement its people-moving business while running on the same massive logistics network it’s built around the world.

Case in point: UberEATS, a food delivery service which recently expanded from two markets to four; UberESSENTIALS, which promises to deliver everyday items to customers in Washington, D.C.; and UberRUSH, the company’s courier service currently operating in New York City. Uber is also preparing to launch a massive delivery service for merchants soon, based on some docs we received detailing how the service would work.

But the company could have even more capital-intensive plans in store, including the potential acquisition of Nokia’s HERE mapping service for up to $3 billion. It’s also investing in a robotics facility in Pittsburgh that could be used for the development of driverless cars.

An Uber spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

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