Uber just added an additional $1B. Seriously.

Uber brings Series E to $2.2 billion, has how raised over $5 billion in venture funding

Would you believe it if I told you that Uber had just raised yet another $1 billion? This after raising three previous rounds, each over $1 billion each in less than a year? It would seem like something like that wouldn't even be possible.

Well, believe it, buddy, because that it what just happened.

As first reported by the New York Times on Wednesday, and now confirmed to VatorNews, Uber has added an additional $1 billion to the $1.2 billion Series E round it closed in December, bringing the total to $2.2 billion. Amazingly, the company doesn't even think it is done yet, having opened up the possibility of raising even more money, bringing the total capacity for the round up to $2.8 billion.

This latest cash infusion follows not only the previous $1.2 billion earlier in thus round, but a $1.2 billion round raised in June of last year, and another $1.6 billion in a convertible debt round from Goldman Sachs in January of this year. 

If anyone is counting, that adds up to $5 billion in funding in just the last year. That is a heart-stopping number.

Prior to these 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. In August of 2013 the company raised a $258 million round.

So what will Uber be doing with all of this money? Expanding some of its newer services, such as its ride-sharing service, and expanding even further around the globe.

"The participation we have seen in Uber's Series E underscores the confidence investors have in Uber's growth and the key priorities of UberPOOL and further international expansion," an Uber spokesperson told me.

 Uber is now available in 54 countries, and it is even further into the Asia Pacific region, an area in which Uber has been pretty aggressive with in recent years. In 2013 it expanded to Singapore, South Korea, Taipei, Dubai, Shanghai and Bangalore. In April of last year came the big one: the company began rolling out its services in Beijing.

The company will likely also be used to fend off attacks from the very same region, as things have been teetering in the region recently. An incident in New Delhi late last yar, where a driver allegedly raped a passenger, causing the service to be banned in that city, as well as Hyderabad. The incident led to Uber declaring new safety features and stricter background checks.

Uber’s services were declared illegal in Taiwan and South Korea went so far as to actually bring Uber CEO Travis Kalanick up on charges for violating a aw that bans rental-car service operations from conducting passenger-transport business using their cars.

These are not frivolous charges either, as Kalanick could face up to two years in jail if found guilty.

There is no word on what this latest funding does to Uber's valuation; after it's last $1.2 billion it valued it at $40 billion, making it the second most valuable venture capital-backed company in the world, behind only Chinese phone manufactuerer Xiomi, which is worth $45 billion.

(Image source: techcrunch.com)