Uber said to plan another $1 billion in fund-raising

If successful, this would make the ride-hailing service the world's most valuable private start-up

Just three months after raising an enormous sum of money from investors, Uber is at it again. Uber, a ride-hailing service, is planning to raise close to $1 billion in new venture capital from investors, according to people close to the matter. Investors are looking at a valuation of $60 billion to $70 billion.

If successful, the round of fund-raising would make Uber the world's most valuable private start-up by far. A round this summer valued the company at more than $50 billion, a bit more than Facebook was valued at after its last big round of private capital fund-raising in 2011.

The furious pace at which Uber has been raising money is every bit as eye-popping as its soaring valuations. The latest round of financing will be the eighth that the company has sought over the last five years.

More precise targets on the size and the valuations will be determined after the company begins talks with investors in coming weeks, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Executive management at Uber has approved another round, and the company plans to start holding official conversations in the next few weeks, they said.

An Uber spokeswoman declined to comment on Friday.

While Facebook's last big fund-raising round took place a year before the social network went public, Travis Kalanick, Uber's founder and chief executive, has little interest in going public in the near future.

"We're like eighth graders. We're in junior high and someone is telling us that we need to go to the prom, and it's just a little early," Kalanick said at The Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive Conference in Laguna Beach, California, on Tuesday. "Let us get into high school before we start talking about these sorts of things."

Lately, the stock market has not been hospitable to initial public offerings, encouraging many companies to stay private longer. Market volatility, in the face of worries over slower global economic growth, has led investors to become more critical of new offerings. Companies have waited a median of 7.7 years to go public this year, up from 5.8 years in 2011, according to data compiled by PitchBook.

As new technology companies stay private longer, their valuations continue to rise. There are more than 140 unicorns - private companies valued at $1 billion or more - according to CB Insights, a venture capital database.

That abundance of sky-high valuations - and a corresponding decline in the stock prices of many publicly traded tech companies - has caused some skepticism from investors and close watchers of the industry.

Founded in San Francisco in 2009, Uber now operates in more than 300 cities in 63 countries around the globe. The company has recruited hundreds of thousands of drivers to work on a contract basis for the company, and the company says millions of riders use its service each day.

Investors have poured money into the company at a staggering rate. To date, the company has raised more than $8 billion from a number of investors, including Benchmark and Google Ventures, as well as large financial firms like Goldman Sachs and TPG Growth.

As Uber's war chest has increased, so have its ambitions. And much of the company's soaring valuations are contingent upon what investors see as huge potential in untapped new revenue streams like on-demand delivery services, according to people close to the company. Uber has only dipped its toe in those waters, with projects like Uber Eats, a food delivery service, and Uber Rush, a way for the company to deliver everyday goods on retailers' behalf.

Uber is also investing heavily in Uber Pool, the company's ride-sharing service, which matches multiple passengers who are travelling along the same routes to different destinations.

Investors also see potential in the company's international prospects. Over the last year and a half, Uber has taken aim at the Asia Pacific region, earmarking more than $1 billion to face regulatory fights in Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

And there is China, Kalanick's prized territory, where the company is spending heavily to secure a strong foothold.

In China in particular, the company is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day offering discounted rides to passengers and better rates for drivers, according to two people with knowledge of the company's practices. The idea, these people said, is for Uber to become a household name in the country as quickly as possible.

Earlier this week, Kalanick said roughly 30 percent of Uber trips were taken inside China.

Beyond China, Uber is particularly focused on making inroads in India, as well as buttressing its existing operations in Europe, which have frequently come under attack from local regulators.

It will not be easy. Uber faces strong incumbents in many of the countries in which it hopes to establish a foothold. Didi Kuaidi, for instance, is far and away the most popular ride-hailing app in China. Uber also faces stiff competition from Ola in India and BlaBlaCar in Europe.

And then there is Lyft, the much smaller but fast-moving competitor in the United States. The company has partnered with ride-hailing competitors in other countries - like China - in hopes of competing against Uber in its quest to upend the global transportation industry.