Uber receives £138m funding

 

“LetterOne”, owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman and German Khan, has invested £ 138m $200m in Uber, the minicab company, making it one of the most high-profile investments in a technology start-up.

Uber,  the most highly valued tech start -up company in the world, who launched its operations in Moscow in 2013, operating in 5 different Russian cities, was seeking to raise £2.1bn from investors in its most recent fundraising at a valuation of  $ 43.13bn ($62.5bn).  Russian market is dominated by Yandex, the search engine company, which has its own minicab app, and Gett Israeli company. Moscow deputy Mayor Maxim Liskutov threatened to ban Uber last week for not using licensed taxi drivers and not providing location data.

“LetterOne” has assets if  £17.25bn $25bn at the end of 2014 and plans to invest  £2.07bn $3bn in tech companies. Fridman envys Uber’s highly talented management team with adequate vision and skills.  Uber’s idea of taking strategic investors in emerging and challenging markets like India and China where its investors include Guangzhou Auto, China Life and Baidu the Chinese search engine. Mr Fridman, the second-richest man in Russia,  received a  £10.07bn $14bn windfall from the sale of his stake in oil company TNK-BP to Rosnefit in 2015. The “LetterOne” group recently completed a £1.10bn $1.6bn deal to acquire stakes in Noth Sea oil and gas fields from Eon, a German Utility.