Unbelievable: Uber takes another $1.6B in funding!

The on-demand car company, which has raised $4B in two years, is also looking for yet another $600M!

I'm starting to think Uber has an addiction to raising money. I'm kidding of course (kind of) but, in all seriousness, has any ever seen a company raise this much money in such a short period of time? It's just... incredible. I don't know what other word to use for it. 

The on-demand car company that raised a $1.2 billion funding round in December, after raising a $1.2 billion back in June, has raised an even bigger round, if you can believe that.

Uber has taken $1.6 billion in a convertible debt round from Goldman Sachs, according to a report from Bloomberg on Wednesday. A convertible debt round essentially means that the company borrowed the money, with the understanding that it will be paid back in some way, likely in the form a share in the company. 

It is a six-year bond that will convert into equity at a 20% to 30% discount to Uber’s valuation at the time of an initial public offering. Since Uber is valued at $40 billion after its last funding round, and is no doubt an IPO candidate, Goldman stands to make quite a bit of money back on this investment.

If that weren't enough, Uber is not even done taking money; the company is reportedly still in talks to raise another $600 million from hedge funds and international strategic investors, which will be added to its latest $1.2 billion round.

Once it raises that money, it will have raised an incredibly $4.6 billion in just two years. 

There is no indication of what Uber will spend this money on, but it will likely be for the same things it spent its last couple of billion on: expansion and fending off attacks from regulators and local taxi commissions. 

Either way, this latest news is sure to annoy all of the people who thought Uber was already overvalued, such as Peter Thiel, who happens to be an investor in Uber's main rival, Lyft.

Thiel does not think much of Uber. He told CNBC in September that Uber is overvalued, while Airbnb, another company that Thiel has invested in, is undervalued, but only because the latter does not conform to the habits of people in Silicon Valley.

"Investors are always biased to invest in things they themselves understand. So venture capitalists like Uber because they like driving in black town cars," he said. "They don't like Airbnb because they like staying in five-star hotels, not sleeping on people's couches."

Prior to its two mega-rounds, Uber had raised $307.5 million from Benchmark, Google Ventures, TPG Growth, Jeff Bezos, Crunchfund, Goldman Sachs, First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, and more. Last August, the company raised a $258 million round. It's total funding now stands at  $2.7 billion.

An Uber spokesperson declined to comment on this report.

(Image source: thenextweb.com)