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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis
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Uber technologies, Inc. Business analysis

  1. Running  head:  UBER  TECHNOLOGIES,  INC.  BUSINESS  ANALYSIS   1   Uber Technologies, Inc. Business Analysis For Transportation With Technology Omar Khafagy December 2014
  2. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     2   Abstract This paper will explore Uber Technologies, Inc. company’s detailed analysis of all aspects of the organization as regards the business model of its service in the ridesharing and transportation market, the company’s structure, operational and marketing strategies pursued as well as challenges and future potential opportunities. Building on its available financials, recent growth and some market findings, conclusions for stakeholders and potential investors are made. Uber’s controversial valuation is reviewed in the light of current information in attempt to justify or deny.
  3. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     3   The ridesharing industry underwent very little change let alone innovation in the last century until Uber Technologies, Inc. penetrated the market with its creative technology resulting in a revolutionary super service for consumers. Its fast spread and success came along in spite of governmental oppositions, market challenges and competitors arising. Whether Uber will continue to succeed with its exceptional pace in such circumstances or not; its current and future market valuation is phenomenal and worth analysis to uncover the company’s business methodology behind. Executive Summary Uber Technologies Inc. is a startup founded in 2009 and was officially launched in San Francisco in 2010. Uber is a matchmaker smartphone app that provides a platform to both drivers and passengers allowing them to deliver a ridesharing service in more efficient means. Uber operates in the shared (Collaborative) economy market given its business model and continues to successfully take advantage of the efficiency perks associated with such market. Uber currently in its rapid-growth stage has managed to capture a remarkable market share, as it is now present in 50 countries covering over 200 cities (Uber.com, 2014a). Being market leaders of a ridesharing service operating in a market that is relatively new, Uber landed several strong funding rounds attracting lucrative Venture Capitals such as Google Venture.
  4. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     4   Google Ventures has invested showing confidence in the startup with a $258 million investment (86% of their $300 million annual budget). Uber’s revenue is up 18% month over month, and in the past year alone they’ve grown from just 75 employees to more than 300 (GrowthHackers, 2014). Travis Kalanick, Uber’s IPO and CEO, has previously stated that the company’s revenues are doubling every six months (Blodget, 2014a). Uber is now seeking a new round of funding to raise up to $1.8 billion which will value Uber at $41 billion, from its previous $18.2 billion valuation in its last funding round (Mossberg, 2014). Uber will use this money for further growth and expansion as well as penetrating the “on-demand package delivery” logistics’ industry (Bidnessetc.com, 2014). Due to the modernization methodology used by Uber, it is exposed to a highly variable legal environment globally. However a significant increase in the demand for several shared economy firms’ services will lead to changes of regulations in their favor made possible. This eliminates a significant obstacle in Uber’s growth, positioning it as a remunerative investment. An analysis of the value proposition of the company and its differentiation to stay ahead of potential competitors and defy regulated services will provide details to potential investors with a fair understanding for further investment.
  5. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     5   Brief Description of The Business Model Uber is not a conventional taxi business as it owns no cabs or has employed drivers. However it is simply a platform that allows riders to hail a cab through a smartphone application to summon the ride of their preference by choosing from several brands provided by Uber. After clicking on a “request an Uber” button on the app the user is automatically assigned a driver. Uber users have the ability of tracking the driver’s position on a Google map and vice versa. First users subscribe to Uber by submitting their personal and credit card information to utilize Ubers’ service. The service can be obtained in any place Uber operates and at all times. The fare is automatically charged to the users’ credit card and is calculated using pre-set rates for distance travelled, demand and length of the trips. Uber charges users different rates according to the type of service requested taking its revenue as 20% of each fare. Uber brands. A more detailed description of these services is provided in the company summary: • UberBlack • UberLux • UberSUV • UberXL • UberTaxi • Uber for Business
  6. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     6   Approximately a quarter of the drivers are self-employed driving their own vehicles. These self-employed drivers have contracts with companies responsible for referring the passengers requesting a service. Other drivers are directly employed by a company, which provides them with the vehicle. In May 2012, the median annual wage for taxi drivers and chauffeurs was $22,820 (Bls.gov, 2014) Brief Description of The Market Uber, the Ride-sharing app, operates in the Taxi& Limousine service industry. The industry has total revenues of $11 billion in the U.S alone, $14 Billion in the UK and $25 billion in Japan (Techinvestingdaily.com, 2014). Various products and services are offered within this industry such as; Taxi Services, leasing to taxi operators, “special needs” transportation services, stretch Limousine services, also Luxury and corporate Sedan services. This industry underwent changes in the 20th century’s second half: Taxi companies made drivers independent contractors, and cities permitted medallions to be leased to cabdrivers for a fee. The industry also comprises other app-based rides such as Lyft , Hailo, GetTaxi, LeCab and many more . Uber’s Uniqueness Various differences make Uber unique in the Taxi &Limousine service industry. The way the app simply works adds fun to necessary short waiting times. As the customer waits, the app shows a Google map image of his exact location and tracks the location of his assigned driver. Unlike regular Taxi services, the app gives the users beneficial data they did not ask for including the length of the trip, miles traveled and the average speed. These differences also include; reliability, wages, accessibility, legal and
  7. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     7   registration differences (Egan: Started determined nun et al., 2014). Uber vs. local taxi Uber Taxi Reliability Uber is more reliable and offers a great advantage for those who value time. In April: 1) 94.62% cars arrive within 15 minutes. 2) 99.98% cars arrive within 30 minutes. Cabs have worse statistics indicating less reliability 1) 27% cabs arrive within 15 minutes 2) 63% cabs arrive within 30 minutes According to the City and County of San Francisco Office of the Controller 2005 Taxi Commission Survey Report: 1) 34% of the surveyed “almost always get a cab. 2) 43% sometimes get a cab 3) 23% usually never get a cab Wages Uber reported that UberX (Uber’s cheapest tier service) drivers can make a median income of $90,000 a year in New York if they work at least 40 hours per week. It says drivers can make up to $60,000 per year in Dallas. UberX is the startup's cheaper tier service. Income varies by the number of hours drivers work and the fees they pay. Drivers renting or leasing a plate can earn in between $25,000 to $30,000 a year if they work six days a week Accessibility Uber uses a more efficient delivery of the service. The app directly assigns the closest car to the passenger. Customers in need of the service can either go through a taxi broker that assigns a car to the
  8. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     8   The app provides a platform where both the driver and the passenger have a direct channel of communication, the ability to locate each other on a map using the GPS technology as well as easier methods of payment. passenger or stop a cab on the street. If assigned a car through a taxi broker, the communication is with the broker and not directly with the driver which could result in delays i.e. inefficiency. Legalities (Registration) Uber faces some legal instability regards the restrictions on the number of cars operating. In some cities no medallions or registration fees are required which lowers Uber’s and its drivers expenses. Taxis and limousines face a more strict policy. A taxi medallion, which is a license that puts a quota on the number of cars operating. Business Strategy For Success Uber has employed various strategies that lead to their current level of success, which is relatively high compared for newly established companies. Uber’s entrance strategy of the market captured a continuously growing customer number spending $100 /month in less than 3 years (Mangalindan, 2012). Uber understood the growing market of consumers that use smart phones, which is now estimated to be 50% of the United States, and the fact that early adopters are willing to pay a premium price for convenience, professionalism, and cleanliness. App technology is straightforward and there is a very small learning curve for early adopters to understand the Uber product (Tofel, 2010). Even with a niche customer base of upper class professionals, Uber has been able to grow its installed base 30-40% per month and our future growth section will highlight plans for that growth to continue throughout the
  9. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     9   World (Mangalindan, 2012) Uber pursued a fearless “disruptive” strategy where it played the role of a new entrant on a status quo market disrupting it and capturing profit excess of such market (Wohlsen, 2014a) .In addition, Uber used a “noisy” marketing strategy for branding sake, even fighting legal issues publicly where bad PR and press is considered better than none. Uber also utilized a strategy of “more rides in more places quickly” where initial profitability is of less importance than popularity, resulting in undercutting competitive prices following price wars (Wohlsen, 2014a). Uber’s investment in technology innovation is believed to be the main driver of success penetrating an obsolescent transportation industry subsequently resulting in a revolutionary cab service company. Uber announced recently that the app has been opened to all developers (UberAPI) to take the advantage of being an open source and continuously improving the app (Uber Blog, 2014c). Now other apps can process an Uber request and pass the destination address to the Uber app, display pickup times, provide fare estimates, and access trip history. Furthermore, Uber’s emphasized and evident strong public presence and convenience to use acted as a potent weapon to gain political leverage decreasing its legal opposition (as more people will complain if the service was stopped) (Wohlsen, 2014a). In regards to the its political struggles, Uber’s most effective weapon in fighting back was how Uber was perceived as a force for modernization and freedom and acted against bureaucrats and politically connected interests.
  10. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     10   Frequent Market studies were performed by Uber to provide evidence that the service contributes positively to the overall welfare thus holding a strong argument against regulators and critics. An example of these market studies is a study that analyzes the correlation between the demand for Ubers’ services and alcohol related accidents. According to the study, 7,666 alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents in New Jersey, resulting in 72 deaths and 4,005 injuries. The data showed that the alcohol-related accidents were more frequent during the weekend with 42.5% of accidents occurring from midnight Friday through Sunday night, and of those, 34.5% of weekend accidents occurred between 12am and 4am(Uber Blog, 2014b). An observation made by Uber’s team is that the number of Uber requests increases significantly during that period of time. This serves, as evidence that the service Uber provides is highly beneficial as it promotes safety by delivering a highly accessible option of transportation. Despite running background checks on the drivers, Uber established an efficient driver monitoring and rating program to secure the quality of the service, which in turn vastly impacts Uber’s reputation. Since Uber depends on the Word of mouth, having the ability to monitor the quality at which their passengers are being served is essential. Uber broadened their target market by providing the service “ Uber for Business”. Uber for business has managed to lure their customers by providing them with tools that help them manage and track any employee transportation expenses. One payment source per company covers all its employees’ transportation bills thus avoiding the hassle of requesting reimbursements later on (Uber.com, 2014b). Also, Uber utilized a strategy of establishing deals with firms or other apps that
  11. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     11   could elevate the quality of the service. Uber recently managed to cut deals with General Motors, Toyota and various financing firms (Milian, 2013). This move was believed to highly encourage drivers to obtain cheaper financing costs in buying a car, which would motivate them in joining Uber’s fleet. Other examples of these deals are contracts with American Express and PayPal to ensure all electronic methods of payment are covered (Uber, 2014). A recent deal with Spotify (Music App) can now give the passengers the luxury of playing their favorite tunes during their Uber ride in 10 cities so far (Uber Blog, 2014m). Uber’s Management Team Qualifications Travis Kalanick CEO & Co - Founder at Uber Technologies Inc. He is a successful entrepreneur who founded Uber in 2009. He dropped out of college at UCLA. Today he owns 13 investments in 10 companies (Crunchbase.com, 2014) Ryan Graves -Head of global operations. He holds a B.S. in Economics from Miami University. He is strategic problem solver that turned Uber’s operations team from a single employee to an international workforce (Crunchbase.com, 2014). Garrett Camp - Co-Founder & Chairman. He holds a Masters in Software Engineering at the University of Calgary, researching interfaces for collaborative systems, evolutionary algorithms and information retrieval. Garrett co-founded Uber.com in 2009 with Travis Kalanick (Crunchbase.com, 2014). Salle Yoo-General Counsel. She is a graduate from Scripps College and Boston University School of Law. Salle secures Uber’s rapid expansion globally and sustain growth (Crunchbase.com, 2014).
  12. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     12   Than Pham - Chief Technology Officer. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and an M.S. in EE/CS from MIT. He creatively solves any challenges that face Uber’s growth (Crunchbase.com, 2014). Brent Callinicos - Chief Financial Officer. He is a graduate of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Ex-VP, Treasurer and Chief Accountant at Google (Crunchbase.com, 2014). Jeff Holden -Chief Product Officer .He is Graduate of University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign. He is Ex-Senior Vice President of Product Management of Group on since April 2011 also Ex-CEO and co-founder of Pelago, Ex-VP at D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. in New York (Crunchbase.com, 2014). Revenue Projection All of Uber’s revenue comes from the taxi business. Recently, several analysts have valued Uber as an $18.2 billion company (Blodget, 2014b) Uber earned approximately $26.4 million in revenues providing 1.23 million rides (Borison, 2014). Uber’s closest competitor (Lyft) made $2.2 million in revenues (Borison, 2014). The company earns 20% in gross revenue and the drivers claim the rest. (Shontell, 2014a). According to Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick, revenue growth is high as they double earnings every six months (Anon, 2014). Considering that Uber operates in a lot of cities but not at a full scale yet; it is believed that as the company grows and meets their funding requirements for expansion; growth in revenue will continue to increase until it reaches the maturity stage. A lot of speculators anticipate that Uber could be soon
  13. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     13   generating $10 billion in revenues ($2 billion net revenue), which justifies the $18.2 billion valuation (Blodget, 2014a). In addition, Uber just started experimenting with on- demand delivery service, which signals the possibility of tapping into the logistics industry. This would create more revenue streams for Uber depending on their success providing this service. Uber’s Expenses Given Uber’s structure and their operational plan, the company does not incur expenses as large as regular Taxi companies. The main expenditures are on R&D with the goal of creating and sustaining a platform to deliver their services (Damodaran, 2014a). The more Uber expands and builds a more complete infrastructure; a decline in their efficiency ratio (expenses/revenues) emerges; increasing their overall efficiency. Uber also spends on marketing as they approach new markets. They concentrate on launch events and press conferences to get as much exposure as they can. Examples of other expenses Uber faces are; payment processing, payment fraud, refunds, customer support, law dispute resolution, cellular handsets and service fees for the drivers, and local regulatory efforts (Above the Crowd, 2014). Financial Estimate Required and Implementation In June 2014, Uber announced a closing of a major financing deal of $1.2 billion of primary capital and a total of $1.4 billion with a second close of strategic investors. This round of financing puts Uber at a $17 billion pre-money valuation (Kovach, 2014). Uber’s financing deal follows their number one competitor’s (Lyft) announcement
  14. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     14   of raising $250 million in Apri(Lawler, 2014) l. Until last August, both companies had raised over $300 million in funding. According to Kalanic, Uber aims to keep raising money to secure a dominant position in the market and brush Lyft’s competition off (Bort, 2014). Given that Uber completes ten times more trips than Lyft and is significantly bigger than Lyft in terms of size and market share, having the same capital resources puts Uber at a disadvantage as they burn through money raised at a faster rate. Another reason that would drive Uber to keep raising money is to fund future expansion plans and upgrade their operations. Since Uber only operates in limited markets, it is believed that Uber will use a huge chunk of the money raised to fund their growth with the goal of increasing their market share. Uber may be providing convertible debt and no equity in its latest round of funding. If so, Uber will gain cash without affecting its old shareholders controlling interest. Investors who decide to join in this round of funding will receive a discount in coming rounds, also liquidation preference. This new round will also assist the company to cash out its old investors with no IPO (Mymeedia.com, 2014). In addition, Uber has recently started experimenting a new service of “on-demand package delivery” (UberRush) (Shontell, 2014c). Expanding their products and service lines to operate in the logistics industry could be the motive for the financing deals as they would be competing against more established companies such as FedEx, UPS and Amazon.
  15. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     15   Company Summary Uber Technologies, Inc. is a venture capital privately –held transportation application for mobiles designed for the request of a car service by users. The user will be able to view the drivers name, type of car and it’s ranking upon his request. Uber Technologies was founded in2009 By Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in San Francisco (Privco.com, 2014). Mission Statement “Uber is evolving the way the world moves. By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers. From our founding in 2009 to our launches in over 200 cities today, Uber’s rapidly expanding global presence continues to bring people and their cities closer”(Uber.com, 2014a).
  16. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     16   Company Goals Uber’s company goals can be summarized as follows (Quora.com, 2014b): • To penetrate as many markets as possible in the shortest of time • To improve driver operations’ efficiency (attracting new partners and assisting present ones) • Continuous modification of the service to enhance Uber’s quality performance • Plan how to build a supply of new partners for expansion markets • Establish analytical benchmarks to support the company in new markets and products • Identify weaknesses for better strategic improvements and innovations • Differentiate products to increase their market visibility • To continuously monitor users’ needs everywhere for delivering always efficiently • To overcome regulatory battles facing further growth and expansion Company Objectives (Daily Intelligencer, 2013) • To take over the cab industry by being the most cheap, easy ride all over the world • To eliminate private car ownership • To provide all types of logistical and transportation services where it operates • To include on demand delivery of goods and services
  17. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     17   Business Philosophy Uber operates with philosophy of satisfying its employees first to optimize the customer’s benefits. Uber supports its employees to great limits and in many ways with the following purposes, principals, methods and rules (Uberether.com, 2014): Purposes • Establish a strong business model that can be replicated easily by others. • Establish a company that is owned by its employees through fairness and democracy. • Establish strong bonds with its workers and customers. Principles • Egalitarian: equality, inclusivity and non discrimination of all • Sustainable: caring about each other and supporting everyone’s needs • Transparent: honest communication and information sharing • Fun: make the working environment fun • Agile: flexibility, responsiveness and easy adaptability between team members and towards customers • Pragmatic: perfection performance exceeding customers expectations Methods to adhere to company’s principals • Decision making that is consensus-based • Transparency in all corporate processes encouraging sharing of information • Sharing of company’s profit among employees, partners, customers and the
  18. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     18   society • Always licensing for the benefit of the company, its team, partners and customers • Working with people of have values similar to the company’s values Company rules • The company’s mere existence is to create a positive environment for all workers • The company will try to remain small and efficient for an organization with a healthy size • The company will establish strong bonds with its workers and customers like a family • The company respects individual needs and preferences • The company hiring process will show no discrimination for any cause but according to their professional abilities • The company will not force working on weekends • The company will promote vacations to avoid over work • The company will pay double salaries or paid vacation days in highly demanding projects • The company may be flexible in employees’ choices of work type and goals • The company will allow freedom of speech and expression • The company will try to be publicly transparent • The company will cherish employees privacy
  19. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     19   The company’s president leads and his actions are supervised by: 1) External experts forming an advisory board 2) Employees and advisory board members forming a governance team Ownership Structure Uber obtains funding through seed funding rounds given that it’s an early growth stage. There are three types of investors that own a stake at Uber; Venture capitalists, Angels and Private equities (Privco.com, 2014). Uber offers investors two classes of stock, “Common Stock” and “Preferred Stock”. As of July 2010, Uber has issued a total of 65,088,840 shares at a value of $0.0001 per share (Privco.com, 2014). Common stock. (Privco.com, 2014) Total Common Stocks Class A Common Stock Class B Common stock 50,797858 27,000,000 23,797,858 Preferred stock. (Privco.com, 2014) Total Preferred Stocks Series A Preferred Stock Series B Preferred Stock Series C-1 Preferred Stock Series C-2 Preferred Stock 14,290,982 3,811,772 3,439,589 1,913,782 775,092 Dividends. Holders of Preferred Stocks have the right to earn dividends quarterly prior to holders of any of the Common Stocks classes. Payouts are adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends and reclassifications (Privco.com, 2014).
  20. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     20   Dividend Payout per Share. Class A Common Stock Class B Common Stock Series A Preferred Stock Series B Preferred Stock Series C-1 Preferred Stock Series C-2 Preferred Stock $0.0290 $0.0290 $0.2337 $1.1343 $11.4032 $9.1225 Liquidation. If Uber voluntary or involuntary face a dissolution scenario, holders of Preferred Stocks have the priority and preference in claiming any proceeds for the sale of assets or other liquidation transactions. The residual is divided among Common Stocks holders according to number of shares owned by each shareholder (Privco.com, 2014). Further details regard investor relations such as: Mechanics of Payment, stock conversion, voting rights and more, are provided in Uber’s Delware incorporation document. Seeding rounds and suppliers of funds. (Privco.com, 2014) 1) First Seeding round Date: 1st August 2009 Investors: • Garret Camp (Angel) • Travis Kalanick (Angel) Total Funding Amount: $200,000 Series: Seed
  21. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     21   Investment Type: Equity 2) Series seeding rounds Round: Seed -Date: 10th October 2010 -Investors: • Josh Spear (Angel) • Oren Michels (Angel) • Lowercase Capital (Venture Capital) • Founder Collective (Business Incubator) • David Cohen (Angel) • Mitch Kapor (Angel) • Alfred Lin (Angel) • Cyan and Scott Banister (Angel) • Babak Nivi (Angel) • Naval Ravikant (Angel) • Shawn Fanning (Angel) • Jason Calacanis (Angel) • Mike Walsh (Angel) -Total Funding Amount: $1,250,000 -Series: Seed
  22. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     22   -Investment Type: Equity Round: A -Date: 14th February 2011 -Investors: • Benchmark (Venture Capital) • Lowercase Capital (Venture Capital) • Founder Collective (Business Incubator) • Cyan and Scott Banister (Angel) • First Round Capital (Venture Capital) • Lowercase Capital (Venture Capital) • Alfred Lin (Angel) -Total Funding Amount: $11,000,000 -Series: A -Investment Type: Equity Round: B -Date: 7th December 2011 -Investors: • Menlo Ventures (Venture Capital) • Jeff Bezos (Angel) • Bobby Yazdani (Angel)
  23. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     23   • CrunchFund (Venture Capital) • Goldman Sachs Private Equity (Private Equity) • Bezos Expeditions, LLC (Venture Capital) • Benchmark (Venture Capital) • Lowercase Capital (Venture Capital) • Sigma Partners (Venture Capital) • CampVentures (Venture Capital) -Total Funding Amount: $37,000,000 -Series: B -Investment Type: Preferred Equity Round: C -Date: 23rd December 2013 -Investors: • Google Ventures (Venture Capital) • TPG Capital LP (Private Equity) • Benchmark (Venture Capital) -Total Funding Amount: $361,190,000 -Series: C -Investment Type: Preferred Equity
  24. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     24   Round: D -Date: 6th June 2014 -Investors: • Fidelity Investments (Corporate) • Wellingtion Management Company LLC (Private Equity) (Corporate) • Summit Partners (Venture Capital) • BlackRock, Inc. (Corporate) • Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (KPCB) (Private Equity & Venture Capital) • Google Ventures (Venture Capital) • Menlo Ventures (Venture Capital) -Total Funding Amount: $1,200,000,000 -Series: D -Investment Type: Preferred Equity The following table demonstrates Uber Technologies, Inc. owners (Privco.com, 2014)
  25. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     25   Uber’s Service Products Uber provides the service of ridesharing through several classes’ brands aiming to satisfy a broader target market. Each brand serves for a different purpose to ensure the satisfaction of the passengers (Web-strategist.com, 2014a) and are as follows; 1) UberBlack: Provides the passenger with a private driver operating a high-end sedan that seat up to four people. 2) UberLux: Provides the passenger with the finest vehicles. 3) UberSUV: Provides the passenger with an SUV vehicle that can fit up to 6 passengers. 4) UberXL: Seats up to 6 people for a cheaper price than the Uber SUV. 5) UberTaxi: Users are able to request a regular taxi providing them with a more accessible method of getting a cab in addition to a more convenient method of payment, as cash is not required. 6) Uber for Business: Provides business organizations with more convenient means of transportation for the employees. This service showed great potential, as Uber was able to deal with lucrative corporations such as Morgan Stanley. With Uber for Business, employees link to a company-provided payment source and bill each ride directly to their account. They can even attach expense codes or memos to their trip information, completely removing the hassle of saving receipts and filing expense reports. Another advantage to Uber for Business is that it enables the clients to make decisions about travel costs based on real-time data, including an overview of expenditures, by whom, and where. An admin dashboard is set up which allows the company to
  26. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     26   add or remove specific employees from the payment profile which eliminates time wasted on approving or rejecting a specific transportation transaction. 7) Also uber launched short-term upon market demand services as follows: • UberPOP was recently launched in Paris, this offers smaller, lower- priced cars, which look nearly like ride-sharing business models • Uber Helicopter was used Last summer, wealthy Manhattans who loathe hours in traffic could take a town car to a helipad and be whisked away to the Hamptons in minutes • Uberboat was used by Customers riding ferries between many Boston wharves in collaboration with Boston Harbor Cruises. • Uber pool: Drivers pick up riders of similar destination • Uber ice-cream trucks delivery to different neighborhood Uber does not own any of the vehicles operated. Uber’s drivers are all independent agents. Uber’s drivers are independent agents that are either self-employed, or work for someone who owns multiple cars.
  27. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     27   SWOT Analysis Strengths Uber revealed several strengths as regards diverse aspects. Competitors. Uber in comparison to its competitors showed the following; • Uber is the first company to provide ridesharing services. Being first in the market provided Uber with a head start building in its clientele and branding (Hausman, 2013). • Uber currently has more cars providing its service therefore drivers reach the pick locations faster (Quora.com, 2014a). • Uber pays the drivers more than what Uber’s closest competitor Lyft (Huet, 2014). • Compared to Uber’s competitors, Uber has the widest distribution as it currently operates in 50 countries and over 200 cities (Uber.com, 2014a). • Uber has the ability to defy competitors by providing other modified more affordable services such as UberX, which is believed to be 20% cheaper than its main competitor Lyft and local taxi rates (Medium, 2014). • A unique feature that Uber and ride sharing firms possesses is that they are not required to auction for a Medallion. Taxi companies are required to purchase a Medallion, which is a cap, set to limit the number of cars operating for this company.
  28. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     28   Profits. Ubers profits were outstanding for a startup company featuring the following; • Revenue percentages continue to increase month to month. According to CEO Kalanick, revenues have been doubling every six months (Rusli, 2014). • Uber’s potential has been repeatedly proven by investor’s optimism with regards to future performance and thus raising capital through multiple strong financing rounds. • Uber does not own of the vehicles providing the service therefore Uber’s startup expenses are moderate and are mainly contributed to improving the platform by which Uber delivers the service (Uber Blog, 2014a). Service. Uber was unique in many aspects as follows; • Quality service, safe and comfortable marketed as highly efficient with elegance. Uber allows its users to rate their drivers giving them the ability to monitor the quality at which their users are being served (Uber.com, 2014a). • Uber provides the users with an easier method of payment as users already submitted the required credit card information. This reduces the hassle of dealing with cash or making sure that the vehicles credit card machine is working. • A new feature added to the app called “Fare Split” which helps passengers split the cost of a ride easily (Uber Blog, 2013b). • High Transparency regards the pricing rates, and driver’s information. Uber minimizes any extra charges due to any mistaken or on purpose detours by the drivers raising credibility (Board of Innovation, 2014).
  29. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     29   • Uber has a shorter waiting time and a more guaranteed service when compared to local taxis that currently dominate the Taxi & Limousine industry (CityLab, 2014). • Continuous availability covering late night hours where most other transportation means service halt • The majority of transportation services are under vast regulations which in turn results in lowering the quality and efficiency of their services and increasing prices Technology. Uber’s used technology description is as follows; • Uber, founded in 2009, is leading in terms of patenting activity, with patent applications for both driver and passenger-facing aspects of ride -sharing and taxi scheduling technology (Envision IP, 2014). • Uber is a technologically driven service in an old standstill industry, which gives it the potential of changing the means by which the whole industry operates. • Mobile app – upon demand based service using a push of a button technology that geo-locates a nearby cab. • Mobile app is user friendly and provides a medium in which the delivery of the service is more efficient and convenient to the passengers. The app allows the passengers to have direct contact with the driver as well as the luxury of tracking their whereabouts on a map (Hausman, 2013).
  30. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     30   Drivers. Driver’s recruitment in Uber showed the following aspects; • Uber’s high revenue growth is due to an increasing demand for its services. This has a negative impact on local taxi driver’s income, which encourages them to join the Uber fleet if they are able to meet the requirements. • Uber has many successful partnership deals with different parties (Refer to Appendix E) for example with GM, Toyota and financing providers to reduce the cost of new car ownership for Uber drivers encouraging more drivers to join their fleet (Uber Blog, 2013a). • Drivers save time as they are automatically matched with the closest customer instead of waiting in lines to find customers. • The nature of the service provided by Uber provides the drivers with the luxury of flexible working schedules. Weakness Uber’s weakness may not be many but are extremely serious to the company’s further continuity and growth if not resolved which are as follows; • Uber is recognized as an unregulated service, which is the main reason why Uber is facing a lot of legal controversy (CTVNews, 2014). • Insurance and liability concerns frequently raised (Hausman, 2013). • Company charged in lawsuits for having illegal practices, not following other standard contracts between cities and cab service providers, and not in parallel with union laws (Hausman, 2013).
  31. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     31   • Idea monetizing; limitations to potential market cap may still occur because of overhead and potential legal costs in spite of the constant demand for cabs (Hausman, 2013) • Uber pricing rates are very inconvenient for rides of short distances in some cities (Hong, 2014). • Given that Uber is a firm operates in the shared economy market, investors face difficulty with valuation models regards such business structure due to the recent emergence and popularity of this market development. Opportunities Uber’s unique business model has great opportunity potentials in the market as follows: • Uber has expansion plans to have full coverage for cities it is currently operating in and to cover areas of large populations that reside in less affluent locations with little or no cab access to decrease wait times and distance coverage to access services downtown. • Uber has no limitations on pursing international markets as the service provided is of better quality and less time consuming than any of the services provided by existing taxi companies globally (Hausman, 2013). • Uber’s recently introduced services suggest that the company could be offering more than ridesharing services. UberRush, a new service introduced in Manhattan that provides the app users the ability to request pickups and deliveries is an
  32. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     32   experiment to test the logistics market which Uber could be tapping in the foreseeable future (Ong, 2014). Threats Uber is facing many external threats to its expansion described as follows: • Any lawsuits won by cities against Uber for illegal taxi practices may destroy the successful model with subsequent high liabilities and limit its expansion and growth (Hausman, 2013). • Due to operating in a variable legal environment it is hard to quantify the costs of cease-and-desist orders, court injunctions and the impounding of cars. • Threats of enforcing local bylaws if company refuses to acquire a broker’s license whereas competitors agree to this condition could increase Uber’s expenses. • It is illegal to drive any public regular vehicle with a charging meter in some countries, which could hinder operations (Hype.my, 2014). • A pre-set fixed hiring charge is mandatory for public passenger vehicles is allowed (livery vehicles) in some countries • It is illegal for anyone without a livery license to render a livery service in some countries • Taxis are forbidden from doubling or more their rates in some countries as Uber does which could hinder operations in the future (Wikipedia, 2014). • Extra fees or a surcharge imposed on customers for non-cash electronic payment methods is prohibited in some countries.
  33. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     33   • Collection of any fares above that set by ordinance by anyone is considered unlawful practice. • Banned in some countries due to insufficient driver vetting (background checks) and insurance could hinder expansion plans (Oltermann, 2014). • Ventures believes sharing-economy companies like Uber and Airbnb that raise huge amounts of funding will be handicapped by the need to deliver margins that justify investors’ cost of capital, making them vulnerable to competition by more lightly capitalized entrants who copy their business models. • Governmental price control and regulations restricting Uber to enter the regulated market (Wikipedia, 2014). • Regulated service perceived only as being safe and quality. • Drivers can acquire new customers and implore them to call directly instead of using the app. • Drivers can work for multiple companies therefore it might be difficult to know when they use the app and when they don’t. • The app relies on social media so can easily be affected with negative experiences
  34. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     34   Marketing Analysis Marketing Plan Price. Uber utilizes three pricing strategies; fixed airport rates, standard fees which include a per mile/minute charge, and “surge (dynamic) pricing”. For each service provided, Uber keeps 20% while the drivers keep the remaining 80% with no tips (Iredale, 2014). Prices depend on the service provided with UberX (believed to be 40% cheaper than local taxis) being the cheapest (Uber Blog, 2014j). The pricing structure allows an easier method of payment by the passengers due to the electronic nature of the payment as each passenger has his credit card information submitted to create an Uber account. Fixed airport rates and standard fees are two pricing strategies that do not differ from any regular taxi. What makes Uber’s pricing strategy unique is their use of “surge pricing”. Surge (dynamic) pricing which affects less than 10% of the trips (Dickey, 2014b) is a strategy in which Uber sets highly flexible prices for the trips based on current market supply and demand for drivers. Uber is able to stay competitive by changing prices based on algorithms that take into account competitor pricing, supply and demand, and other external factors. For example, during holidays or other events such as Halloween, New Year’s and bad weather conditions, Uber notifies their customers with a slight increase in pricing with an aim to decrease the number of unfulfilled requests. Each of Uber’s brands, which serve to satisfy different preferences of passengers, has a different pricing structure.
  35. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     35   Table showing the pricing for Uber’s services in Toronto (Uber.com, 2014d) UberX UberXL UberBlack UberSUV Base Fare $2.75 $5 $8 $23 Per min $0.30 $0.30 $0.80 $0.80 Per Km $0.90 $1.55 $2.50 $2.50 Safe ride fees $1 $1 N/A N/A Min Fare $2.75 $5 $15 $30 Cancellation fee $5 $5 $10 $10 • Uber’s formula for calculating the total fare = base fare + the maximum of per minute or per kilometer value. • For UberTaxi the passengers pay standard meter rates plus a 20% gratuity automatically added for the driver. • Passengers can incur charges such as a cancellation fees and safe ride fees Product. Described above in the company summary
  36. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     36   Promotion. Uber implements various promotional strategies to attract its target market as follows ( Refer to Appendix D); A) Referral. Each user is assigned a referral code, which is then used by new signups crediting both the original user and the new user $20(Uber Blog, 2014f). B) Extensive launch campaigns at each new city. Launching in new cities, Uber applies a lot of marketing, create a lot of launching events and press conferences. Examples of these events are: • Motorcades for President's Day: On President’s Day in DC, Uber picked random users who requested a ride on that day and gave them a replica of the Presidential motorcade ride with drivers acting as if they are working for the Secret Services. This ride was under the name of UberCade (Uber Blog, 2014g). • Roses for Valentine's Day: On Valentine’s day, they picked random users who requested a ride and provided them with a free ride to and from their Valentine’s Day plans. With the ride a bouquet of dozen roses was delivered (Uber Blog, 2014k). • Lemonade Stand: Uber users can use the application to request information regards the closest lemonade stand and showing the exact location on the map. The app also provides information regards the ETA to the lemonade stand. The Uber Lemonade stand also offers UberDogs, pretzels and various options of chilled beverages (Uber Blog, 2014d). • Ice Cream truck: Users can request ice-cream trucks to show up at specific locations. The user simply requests a truck at the location preferred and will
  37. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     37   receive an ETA on when the truck will show up. In addition, the user has a direct communication channel with the ice-cream truck driver. The driver can only deliver 5 ice- creams per order but users can also order more when the truck arrives (Uber Blog, 2013c). • Mariachi band, margaritas, & piñatas: A service similar to the ice-cream truck but instead provided users with “On-Demand Mariachi Fiestas”(Uber Blog, 2012). C) Word of mouth. The majority of Uber’s success is contributed to its customer’s word of mouth. According to CEO Kalanick 95% of Uber riders have heard of Uber through other Uber users (GrowthHackers, 2014). Coupled with the launch events the word of mouth strategy utilized by Uber has been a major driver in Uber’s revenue growth. Place. Uber was founded in 2009 and officially launched in San Francisco in 2010, however now available in urban areas throughout the United States. The company expanded internationally( Refer to Appendix H) operating in cities such as Paris (Dec 2011), Toronto (March 2012) , London ( July 2012),Sydney (Nov 2012), Singapore(Jan 2013),South Korea (August 2013), Beijing (July 2014), Warsaw (August 2014), and Rio de Janeiro(Wikipedia, 2014). Today Uber operates in 50 countries and over 200 cities and further plans of expansion (Uber.com, 2014a).
  38. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     38   Competition and Buying Patterns Uber’s competitors in the U.S market include Lyft, Inc., Sidecar Communications, Inc., GetTaxi, Inc., and the regular Taxi . The smartphone enabled transportation business is spreading fast especially in U.S cities, the homeland of Uber. A comparative test between those most famous ride-sharing apps’ services (UberX, Lyft, Sidecar) against local cabs in six main U.S cities was performed (Fowler, 2014). The test utilized the 3 relevant apps and hailing a street local taxi over 30 rides covering the same trip at the same traffic time to same destinations. Some rides were triple or four times more expensive than local taxis especially in rush hours where their prices were typically increased; UberX was 20% above local taxi price, Lyft came in second place as regards pricing with a minimal rise above the local taxi, however Sidecar came first with a 10% value less than the local taxi (Fowler, 2014). Lyft and Uber apps do not calculate your fare immediately but will give alerts of price raise due to peak traffic times and rush hours, Sidecars doesn’t raise its prices under these conditions and unlike the other 2 apps, it calculates your estimated fare to chose to take that ride or not. Sidecar drivers are less liable to increase their prices especially with their knowledge of other competitors (Fowler, 2014). In regular traffic, both Lyft and UberX rates were less than local cabs, with UberX the cheapest and known waiting time to be never more than 13 minutes. Local taxis knew the most quickest and shortest routes followed by UberX while Sidecar and Lyft drivers were 20% longer in time. UberX drivers were like chauffeurs with user siting in the back
  39. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     39   unlike Lyft and Sidecar (Fowler, 2014). Service Name Least expensive most expensive Best time Chicago Sidecar$4.00 Taxi$7.65 Taxi8: 20 Boston UberX$7.45 Sidecar$12.00 Taxi & Lyft 9:00 Los Anglos Sidecar$11.0 Taxi$ 15.05 UberX 16:52 New York Taxi$9.50 UberX $39.00 Taxi 10:53 San Francisco Sidecar $8.00 Taxi$ 14.10 Sidecar 7:59 Washington. D.C. Taxi&UberX Lyft $15.00 Taxi 8:56 $8.90 Main Competitor “Lyft” Lyft Inc. and its service are recognized as the most potent competitor to Uber in the ridesharing industry. Lyft was launched in San Francisco 3 years after Uber. However, Uber is operational in three times as more markets as Lyft (Saxena, 2014), four times the number of working drivers and five times in investor funds (MacMillan, 2014). Spending done on car services studied by the Investment Advisory Firm revealed that there were $3.8 million in credit card users in the U.S over the past year; $96,000 million were Uber or Lyft with the majority being Uber users (Griffith, 2014). Revenues revealed that its users spent $26.4 million on 1.2 million Uber rides whereas just $2.2 million on 170,000 Lyft rides by its users (Griffith, 2014). However,
  40. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     40   the average cost of Uber’s ride was higher than others and Kalanick stated that the company adds more riders faster than the regular average with 50,000 new drivers each month (Griffith, 2014). UberX during most times is 20-25% cheaper than Lyft with more UberX cars than Lyft to intentionally put Lyft out of business except during rush hours where it exercises its surge pricing where it becomes 1.5 times to 3 times as much (Quora.com, 2014a). Uber riders pay 25% less than the regular UberX fare whereas the drivers still get their 80% cut, this means where users get a cheaper ride $11.25 instead of $15 ride the driver gets $12 surprisingly more than they earn (Huet, 2014). Uber lowered its UberX prices by 20 percent last January, lowering its commission from 20% to 5 % and Lyft also dropped its prices in April, by not getting its 20 % commission at all which is clearly translated that not only both companies are losing money on their rides but Uber is actually paying the their drivers a 5% extra on every ride (Huet, 2014). A more general comparison between the two services revealed the following: Service type. Both companies provide the full range of rides; luxury, premium and limos and they are different from city to city, rides are $1 initially, $1.50/mile, and $0.25/min. In general, it is approximately $2/mile or 20-30% cheaper than regular cabs and is more expensive in big cities with more demand (LA and San Francisco) (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014).
  41. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     41   “Prime Time” in Lyft vs. “Surge Pricing” in Uber cost.In peak traffic times and in certain locations the cost of both Lyft and Uber increases significantly. This dynamic pricing is termed “Prime Time” in Lyft and “Surge pricing” in Uber. For Lyft, "Prime Time" can increase the cost of a ride by 25 to 200% and is clearly evident to users before a ride however Uber’s "Surge Pricing" can increase the cost of a ride up to 7 to 8 times were observed and more difficult to note before the ride. In conclusion Lyft’s "Prime Time" is more efficient and convenient than Uber’s "Surge Pricing" (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014). Company funds. Lyft to date has raised approximately $330 million in total to value it at $700 million whereas Uber raised $1.6 million to date with a $18.2 million valuation. Taking in consideration that Uber is more recognized and popular to investors, Uber is offering bonuses to Lyft drivers upon sign-ups to their teams instead (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014). Service experience. Lyft offers a friendly, fun, and social ride in comparison to a classic back seat ride with Uber. Lyft drivers greet their passengers upon riding with a fist bump, attaches a pink mustache to their cars and has diverse fun themes such as Harry Potter Lyft, the Karaoke Lyft, etc. whereas Uber drivers open the back door for you and are classically dressed. In conclusion Lyft might be more appealing to some than others (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014). Ride safety. Both Lyft and Uber drivers must own a car with a recent insurance as well as a valid driver's license. Drivers are DMV and criminal background checked and their car inspected. For Uber, drivers are at least 23 and own a 4-door car, 2003 or newer while Lyft drivers are at least 21 and own a 4-door car, 2001 or newer. Both
  42. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     42   companies rate their drivers to rapidly exclude bad drivers. Lyft seems to have more female drivers and passengers. A risk is always present, but both rides are perceived so far to be safe (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014). Driver benefits. Both companies provide their drivers with excellent benefits. Different perks are offered in both companies, which include discounts on movie tickets, gym memberships up to offers on new car purchases. Uber also offers incentives to drivers in busy weekends and holidays. Both companies treat their drivers generously (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014). The software. Lyft app is more users friendly and easy for both drivers and passengers also they can use their own smartphone while Uber drivers must use the provided 3G iPhone. These restrict the drivers from using any non-"Uber" apps while as well as being charged $10 / week to use them. Also Lyft allows via its app a custom tip after the ride trip while Uber offers a percentage choice before the ride starts (Lyftvsuber.com, 2014). Taxi Regulations and Legal Issues Uber is up against the Taxi and Limousine industry regulations and laws that protect their rights, that both restrictive locally and globally. Controlled Taxi medallions differ from one country to another but was primarily introduced in NYC and was meant to regulate the number of taxis entering the city to maintain their economical status. The values of taxi medallions continued to rise in accordance with rising taxi demands reaching a value in December 2011 to be above $1 million (Gastaldo, 2014). This medallion policy is present in U.S and other big cities worldwide. The dispute arises from whether such regulations are applicable to a service such as
  43. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     43   Uber with no owned cars or hired employees but simply a mobile application. Uber argues that it is a technology company and should not comply with taxi service regulations which old fashion and damaging to consumer demands (The Globe and Mail, 2014). Vast investments in such medallions for registration, driver’s licenses and other maintenance costs make any new competitor not abiding with the same rules and has a great potential to steal a large market share a real threat. As a result, Uber received its first cease-and-desist order in 2010 in its homeland San Francisco that didn’t stop its operation (Wikipedia, 2014). Later in 2012 the Washington D.C Cab Commission aimed to stop Uber from launching its service based on the fact that its pricing scheme doesn’t follow city regulations but failed to do so (Privco.com, 2014). Also in 2012, an Uber driver was fined by Cambridge officials (Massachusetts) for the operation of an unlicensed livery service and different fare structure, the state’s Division Of Standards also put a halt to the application but the governor’s office later removed all penalties (Privco.com, 2014). Taxi regulators on a committee formed from 15 cities, (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago etc) suggested laws that would directly stop Uber’s operation in the U.S (CHEN, 2014). Also taxi drivers all over the world broke up in strikes and protests opposing the Uber service (Cbc.ca, 2014). Facing fines, airport picks up bans and lawsuits (Refer to Appendix J), Uber started strong lobbying efforts by hiring U.S politicians that may be involved in the regulation of the business (Stone, 2014). However, Uber may suffer in places like Canada where a new Bill affecting the ridesharing industry may hinders Ubers’s operations (CP24, 2014).
  44. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     44   Operational Strategies Market Share and Approach Due to the legal differences regards each taxi industry in which Uber operates in, Uber’s launch has to be planned to match and convey with each of these market’s regulations. Uber is facing various legal obstacles as the regular cab drivers in each city fight back as Uber drives away a significant amount of their rides. According to Kalanick, the demand for Uber’s services has been constantly increasing and this was an enough motive for Uber to fight back as the only explanation behind this increase is that customers are unsatisfied by the other means of transportation. Determining Uber’s market share could be a bit tricky due to the nature of Uber’s operations. Given that Uber operates in 50 countries, it has performed differently in each market. Further more, Uber’s presence has not matured in all of the cities, as some services are not offered in all of the cities due to lack of drivers. According to an IBIS industry report, the Taxi & Limousine industry generates revenue of $11 billion in the US, $14 Billion in the UK and $25 billion in Japan (NovoEd, 2014). Assuming that the rest of the world would add another $50 billion, totals up to a $100 Billion for the Taxi & Limousine market. Given that Uber is projected to make $10 billion in revenues next year (Shontell, 2014b), Uber currently owns %10 of the global Taxi industry (Damodaran et al., 2014b) with the potential of increasing as their operations mature in all the cities it is operating in. There are several factors that affect Uber’s market share. First, the efficiency of its operations; the bigger Uber gets the more it benefits from the economies of scale till a certain point. The second factor is the available competition in the market such as Lyft
  45. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     45   and Hailo who are backed with sufficient funds. Another factor that imposes a high risk on Uber’s market share is the impact of any legal issues they are currently facing and will continue to face as their operations expand. It is difficult to quantify the risk imposed as these legalities could take years in courts and that each taxi industry has different regulations. On the positive side, since operating in 2009 Uber has not shutdown their operations in any of the cities except for one. Facing regulatory obstacles. Several tactics dealing with the government as a shared economy firm can be applied to create a mutually beneficial and co-operative relationship with the government. Suggested examples of these tactics include: a) Proactive: Most shared economy firms are perceived as new concepts that require plenty of explanation to regulators. A beneficial proactive move is to provide accurate and complete explanation on how they operate. Taking Uber as an example, the company is categorized as a communication platform instead of a transportation firm. This has been explained given the nature of Uber’s operations, as they own none of the vehicles running but only act as market matchmaker for the drivers and users. So Uber is an intermediary (Uber.com, 2014a). b) Responsive: Various sharing economy business models face serious concerns regards user safety, privacy and access. In regard to ridesharing firms, excessive care should be taken to avoid any additional concerns raised by the regulators. Taking all required precautions when dealing with providing safe and insured rides is essential as it acts as a positive response to any regulatory concerns. Uber
  46. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     46   has created a blog where it addresses any raised concerns and provides detailed information to eliminate any misconceptions ( Refer to Appendix F). c) Provide evidence: Presenting their case with a well-established market study, as a proof of beneficial results is desirable in the battle against regulators. Having the public perception of being more eco-friendly could encourage a better level of support. Recently, Susan Shaheen, an expert from U.C. Berkeley, conducted a study that concluded that car sharers report reducing their vehicle miles travelled by 44%, which reduces the level of harmful emissions (Harvard Business Review, 2014). Using similar types of studies for example the study of the correlation between the decrease in alcohol related accidents( Refer to Appendix G) and the demand on Uber during the late hours of the weekend known as the “Uber Effect” (Effect and Oberman, 2014) is another source that ride sharing firms could pursue to pressure regulators to adjust current regulations in favour of newly introduced market efficiency developments Competitive Edge In the current standing market and existing system, taxi drivers get a relatively small part of their whole revenue (5-10%). On the other hand, there are a significant amount of customers located in several underserved cities with no taxis available or extremely long waiting times. Thus, Ubers’ service has a competitive edge in fulfilling both of those two target groups needs providing everywhere service at cheaper rates and good driver’s pay (Damodaran, 2014a).
  47. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     47   In addition, Uber presents itself as a technology company not a transportation one (The Globe and Mail, 2014), although this causes confrontation with regulated services and governmental challenges but provides Uber with the freedom to provide the kind of transportation service that is really demanded; cost, quality, efficiency and availability wise. Pricing  Strategy   Uber’s has followed a pricing strategy to become a low price leader of the market by the launching of its UberX service. UberX is currently the company’s fastest, strategic, largest and most growing service offered in many cities around the world with intentionally lowering its price as often as it can be done (already was decreased 4 times in some cities) to maintain that status. In addition “Surge pricing” (discussed before) is kept at levels to affect less than 10 % of Ubers rides in attempt to both provide an efficient service at peak times yet hold with UberX as the main price focus for the service the rest of the times(Above the Crowd, 2014). Sales  Strategy       In sales, Uber is strongly working to launch more rides in as many places as possible regardless of profits. This strategy towards popularity rather than revenue is common to technology companies’ start-ups, falling in the footsteps of Amazon (Wohlsen, 2014a). The company is also determined to keep its wheels running on the road by simply ignoring the many cease-and-desist demands from regulators. Since this strategy was successful in San Francisco (first cease-and-desist order) the company survived many
  48. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     48   attempts to restrict its service both locally and globally (Wohlsen, 2014a). Also Uber focuses on getting political leverage by hiring or attracting high- powered lobbyists to assist the company’s stand up against its many law suits and battles as well as strengthening its public convenience (pricewise) to discourage decision-makers and politicians from pursuing their case fearing public rage (Wohlsen, 2014a). One of Ubers’ sales strategies is to reach elimination of car ownership by offering enough affordable services to cover enough places making car ownership unnecessary (Wohlsen, 2014b). Strategic  Alliances  Strategy                          Uber significantly seeks partnership with a number of strategic partners both globally and locally to enhance its sales growth strategy and increase its users numbers yet in a mutual gain relationship. The following are some successful examples: • Partnership deals with Auto manufacturers and dealers for drivers to purchase cars at better rates. This in turn increases Uber’s workforce and revenues (Milian, 2013) • Partnership with American Express to gain points in the membership rewards program hence increasing clientele base (Uber, 2014). • Partnership with Red Cross in disaster times to help save people joining other disaster relief actions (Uber Blog, 2014e). • Partnership with Microsoft in launching an Uber’s app for the window phone to further serve convenience (Uber Blog, 2014h).
  49. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     49   Uber’s Management  Beyond all strategies, Kalanick has assembled a highly professional management team that emphasises measuring as many data inputs and outputs collected every second of the day. Uber uses advanced mapping technology, sophisticated algorithms, GPS, and a whole math department to measure these metrics related to all aspects of their service to maximise its use and improve its quality (Tc.umn.edu, 2014).     Travis Kalanick CEO & Co - Founder at Uber Technologies Inc. • Travis Kalanick is a successful entrepreneur who founded Uber in 2009. • Started to code in sixth grade however dropped out of college at UCLA • Before Uber, Travis established Red Swoosh, which was an enterprise content delivery company sold to Akamai Technologies in 2007. • Previously founded Scour, the world's first p2p search engine where • Today owns 13 investments in 10 companies Ryan Graves -Head of Global Operations • Ryan holds a B.S. in Economics from Miami University • He led enterprise resource planning and corporate restructuring at General Electric and CNA Insurance • He also focused on growth and business development for Foursquare and Social Dreamium • A strategic problem solver that turned Uber’s operations team from a single employee to an international workforce.
  50. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     50   Garrett Camp Co-Founder & Chairman • Garrett holds a Masters in Software Engineering at the University of Calgary, researching interfaces for collaborative systems, evolutionary algorithms and information retrieval. In 2007 he received MIT Technology Review's TR35 award. • Garrett founded ‘Expa’, a startup studio working with founders to launch new products for 10 years successfully. • Garrett co-founded Uber.com in 2009 with Travis Kalanick Salle Yoo-General Counsel • A graduated from Scripps College and Boston University School of Law • Salle as partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, represented leading energy, telecommunications and technology firms • She serves the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and the Museum Council for the Asian Art Museum boards • Salle secures Uber’s rapid expansion globally and sustain growth Than Pham - Chief Technology officer • He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering and an M.S. in EE/CS from MIT • Ex-VP of Engineering at VMWare, Westbridge and DoubleClick, • He creatively solves any challenges that face Uber’s growth.
  51. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     51   Brent Callinicos - Chief Financial Officer • Graduate of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill • Ex-VP, Treasurer and Chief Accountant at Google Jeff Holden -Chief Product Officer • Graduate of University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign • Ex-Senior Vice President of Product Management of Group on since April 2011 • Ex-CEO and co-founder of Pelago • Worked at Amazon.com, as Senior Vice President of Consumer Websites, Worldwide (worldwide consumer website experience, personalization, ordering/Amazon Prime, (Associates, SEM/SEO). • Ex-VP at D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. in New York (front office software infrastructure)
  52. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     52   Key Project Assumptions Several assumptions have been made throughout this project. These assumptions are crucial in determining if Uber is a financially feasible venture. The following is a brief summary of these assumptions: Service • Uber is registered as a firm operating in the technology industry but given the nature of Uber’s main operations we assume that Uber competes in the Taxi & Limousine services industry that had suffered a long time standstill leading to unsatisfactory service giving Uber the competitive advantage. • Uber is also exploring and trying all forms of consumer logistical services expanding on the ones that show success even if it means fierce competition with already established competitors. • International expansion is unique to Uber in comparison to its other homeland U.S competitors, always competing mainly against regulated taxis in other countries, which even if varies from country to country still stands a high rate of success. Target market • Claims by CEO Kalanick describe how Uber is generating 20% in gross revenue and doubling revenue every six months. The accuracy of such statement is key in the projection of future revenue figures.
  53. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     53   • Uber’s growth is not only fast but also vastly exceeds its competitors; its position in the market attracts strong investors supporting its capital in its price wars against its competitors gaining more market share and higher revenues. • Various studies have been done to try to analyse different relevant internal and external factors affecting Uber and its future. Their data mentioned predicts high valuations and great potentials for the company’s success. • Due to increase in popularity and demand for shared economy services in addition to the fact that their service provision is done more efficiently, suggests that a regulatory change in favour of Uber’s future operations in some countries but not worldwide but this will add up to reach its final valuation. Profitability • Uber’s so far valutions are growing big and in short times ; such continuous progress is solid and confirmed with the evidence from investment rounds completed and proposed and leaks on the companies behalf. Leading Management • Uber’s leading management team are of diverse , professional expertise that confidently lead the company and have shown so far nothing but success.
  54. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     54   Economic Impacts Shared Economy Sharing economy is a socio-economic system built around the sharing of human and physical resources. Recently sharing economy firms have been disrupting traditional industries across the globe. Other apps such as Airbnb, which operate in the same fashion as Uber, have been valued at $10 billion (Lunden, 2014). Uber operating only since 2009 has managed to receive a valuation of $18.2 billion relative to car rental firms such as Hertz at $12.5 billion and Avis at $5.2 billion (Harvard Business Review, 2014). Firms operating in the sharing economy have been questionable regards issues such as privacy and security of sensitive information in addition to safety when it is a company like Uber. These concerns are similar to concerns customers faced when they started online shopping; recently these customers are a bit more comfortable using this service. According to a recent study the sharing economy was valued at $26 billion with a projection of growing to $110 billion in the near future (Harvard Business Review, 2014). The business structure of sharing economy firms utilize, where peers can offer and purchase goods and services from each other using an online platform has witnessed a broader application in various industries. These firms generate significant economic, environmental, and entrepreneurial benefits including an increase in employment and a reduction in harmful emissions (in the case of car sharing services). Jeremiah Owyang Founder of Crowd Companies Council conducted a survey analysing the global shared economy market, on Oct 25th, 2013(Refer to Appendix C). The survey targeted adults under the age 35 as they are the most digitally savvy. This target group would prefer the
  55. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     55   opportunity of sharing or renting rather than owing. It was found that 77% of the participants agreed that using sharing economy is an efficient way to save money. Among who have took advantage of shared economy services, 36% were encouraged to use it for their overall convenience rather than financial motives ( strategist.com, 2014a). All the previous statistics and numbers regards the future of the shared economy and increased demand for its services are signals of potential growth of revenues that can be captured by shared economy firms. An obstacle that hinders these firms from taking advantage of this opportunity is the resistance various city governments have showed. Firms are facing an increase in subpoenas and cease-and-desist orders issued against them in addition to incurring more fines. According to an April 2013 study by the Center for Automotive Research, the auto industry generated around $91.5 billion in state taxes in 2010(Auto Alliance, 2014). Transactions of new and used cars contributed by $30 and $20 billion from vehicle registration fees. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that 51.2% of new cars in 2010 were for the purpose of personal use (Primack, 2013). Assuming that ride-sharing firms are able to sustain their current business model while minimizing the impacts of regulatory criticism, the number of cars purchased for personal use would decrease as a more convenient option of transportation is offered compared to current Taxi services. This would subsequently impose a negative economic impact on the government’s annual tax revenue.
  56. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     56   In addition, Uber and other ride-sharing firms are facing significant resistance from local Taxi companies and drivers after successfully capturing a significant market share. Fearing future expansion plans and identifying current negative impacts on their incomes, local taxi drivers organized strikes in several cities. The local taxi drivers called for legal action against the ride-sharing firms claiming that the ride sharing firms are not following the current regulations accurately. Venture Capitalists Contribution to Shared Economy The process of shared economy firms valuation is complicated, especially Uber since it is a private company. Common fundamentals used such as revenue growth is essential but harder to account for it’s full potential. The uniqueness in which these firms operate has not been fully uncovered in addition to a highly variable regulatory environment globally. Considering the current downsides in assigning a value to shared economy firms, Venture capitalists have shown strong support as various shared economy start-ups managed to obtain financing through large funding rounds. Examples of these firms include: 1) Care.com. A public company that assists families with child care, senior care, special needs care, pet care and housekeeping.Care.com is founded in October 1, 2006 and just went public in January 2014.It raised $109 million in total funding, most recently a $50 million round in August (VatorNews, 2014) 2) Airbnb. A website founded in August 2008, that provides the users with ability to rent out lodging. AirBnb has raised $326 million altogether at a $2.5 billion valuation (VatorNews, 2014).
  57. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     57   3) Lyft. Uber’s main competitor offering ride-sharing services. Lyft raised $333 million, with the majority of its funding raised last year (Weber, 2014). 4) TaskRabbit.A web and mobile platform helps users to outsourcing small jobs and tasks to other people in their area. TaskRabbit has raised $38 million, including $17.8 million in Series B funding in December 2011 (Siliconangle.com, 2014). 5) Uber. Raised a total of $307 million, including a recent $258 million from Google Venture (Dickey, 2014a). A recent survey on the future of shared/collaborative economy future was executed by the partnership between Crowed Companies; a brand council that help large corporation explore the collaborative economy and Vision Critical; cloud-based customer intelligence platform that allows companies to build engaged, secure communities of customers they can use continuously, across the enterprise, for ongoing, real-time feedback and insight (Web-strategist.com, 2014). The survey covered 90,112 people the US, Canada and the UK and targeted three categories of users of shared economy: 1) Re-sharers. Those who buy and/or sell pre-owned goods online, but have not yet explored other services of the shared economy. 2) Neo-sharers. People, who use the newer generation of sharing sites and apps, like Etsy, TaskRabbit, Uber, Airbnb and Kick-starter. 3) Non-sharers. People haven’t yet participated in the shared economy. The results from this survey signal an overall increase in participation in shared economy. The results provide statistics regard the current demand for the services and the
  58. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     58   reasons encouraging more people to build a higher dependency on it. In addition, a projection of the future increase in demand for shared economy services has been forecasted (Web-strategist.com, 2014a). Financial Plan Uber as a five-year-old company raised fierce competition between potential investors to be included in its exceptional growth. Uber announced on the 6th of June this year that they have closed a round of financing comprised of major investors with a total raise of $1.2 billion of primary capital, thus a $17billion pre-money valuation (Uber Blog, 2014l) with $3.5 billion financial rise from last year. In total, investors put Uber at an $18.2 billion valuation with Wellington Management & Fidelity Investments owning most of the investments (Kovach, 2014). Investors claim that with this evaluation, Uber set the record in the U.S technology market of start up business (Saitto, 2014). However Uber is now seeking a new round of funding to raise up to $1.8 billion which will value Uber at $41 billion, from its previous $18.2 billion valuation in its last funding round (Mossberg, 2014). Uber will use this money for further growth and expansion as well as penetrating the “on-demand package delivery” logistics’ industry (Bidnessetc.com, 2014). Uber’s financials remain confidential with an exception of a leak made in December 2013 was a screenshot of Uber’s dashboard but confirmed by Uber (Gannes, 2014) although not covering all of its services.
  59. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     59   (Tiku, 2014) The figures in the leaked screenshot revealed that over a period of 5 weeks between December and November 2013 a growth of above 11% in growth revenue, above 398,000 new signups below 80,000 every week. If this is the case year round then the company is gaining above $1billion gross booking with revenue of $213 million per year (Panzarino, 2014). This was in the year 2013, a definite expected increase is anticipated in 2014. In fact, investors predict that Uber will be able to generate $10 billion in 2014-2015, keeping a 20% of this translates Uber’s net $2 billion (Shontell, 2014b). To fully comprehend, compare this with Facebook’s 2014 year’s expectancy to reach the $10 billion mark after 10 years of fully operating (Shontell, 2014b). Other leaked internal data for December 2013 (Shontell, 2014a) detailed city data as regards working drivers, revenues, average fares, users etc concluded the following: • Uber’s main revenue comes from its well-developed markets; Uber gained $11.7 million from Washington, D.C. (141 million annual run rate), $26 million from New York City, (annual run rate of $312 million) $12.7 million in Chicago,
  60. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     60   (annual run rate of $152.4 million), $17.7 million in San Francisco (a run rate of $212.4 million)(Refer to Appendix I). • The top five markets or cities (excluding 2014 expansions) would generate $1billion per year ). • Uber’s one year estimated growth rate was 369% (Shontell, 2014a). • In the big cities over 100,000 trips were made every week (Shontell, 2014a). • In one day (New years eve 2013) Uber ‘s revenue was$ 10.6 million across 60 operational areas around the world (Refer to Appendix I). Key Financial Assumptions & Indicators Although there are no official information for Uber’ operational data we may conclude from their annul financials and leaked (verified by Uber) data some valuable assumptions and indications: 1) Uber’s revenue growth rate was estimated to be 300% in 2013 with a provisional estimation of another 300% in 2014 (Blodget, 2014a). 2) In 2013 through leaked information on a dashboard Uber was gaining $20 million in revenue every week (Moss, 2013).
  61. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     61   3) The number of cities the service is operational is growing (61 in 2013 to over 200 to date) subsequently the average rides /month is increasing with the expected revenue /user. Also Uber is growing faster than its competitor Lyft with more U.S cities (90) than Lyft (70) (Bidnessetc.com, 2014) ( see appendix fp ) 4) Most of the revenues come from a number of strategic cities, which are not even fully covered (Refer to Appendix G), further coverage expansion to other countries will increase revenues (Blodget, 2014b). 5) Operational expenses are limited to setting the technology infrastructure, which is once set, the operational costs usually decline. 6) Uber has a product /service business model is creating revenues with almost no debts yet a cash cushon capital ($1.2 billion recently). 7) Uber’s pricing strategy to lead the market as the lowest significantly exhausts its competitors in the ride sharing industry. 8) Uber is generating revenues faster than its main competitors (refer to Appendix B) Controversial Future Revenue Projections Controversy about Uber’s outstanding valuation has set several arguments about its justification since it will place it same as Kraft Foods Group Inc, Delta Airlines Inc, one and half times the capital of Twitter and no comparison with Hertz (Saitto, 2014). Uber has stated to its investors that its gross revenue for 2014 had exceeded $4 billion and hence expected to be $10 billion in 2015(Mossberg, 2014). Ilan Mochar, Inc’s .com magazine writer argued that is very common for Uber as many other start up companies to flourish quickly then fail up to bankruptcy; it happened to daily deals
  62. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     62   “Groupon” that was actually valued $17 billion once now $4billion and many more failed up to bankruptcy (Oremus, 2014). However he also argued that with Uber’s rate of growth as a good alternative in the $11 billion revenue Taxi & Limousine industry (U.S), it has great potential to reach its valuations. Also with the idea of ending car ownership in mind will certainly assist to reach its valuations (Oremus, 2014).. However, two other scenarios described by Aswath Damodaren, a Finance Professor in Stem School of Business at NYU tried to justify Uber’s current valuation of 17 billion (Damodaran, 2014a) (refer to Appendix B for more information on Uber’s valuation) by the either following; • The Taxi & Limousine industry total revenues must be three times his estimate of $100 billion or, • Uber’s market share of the industry must be double his estimate of 10% of the total market. Assuming that Uber’s market share is fixed at 10%, a valuation of $17 billion is still unjustified even if the industry generates $300 billion in revenues (Damodaran, 2014a). Conclusion Given that the goal of the project is to determine if the venture is financially feasible; after completing this business plan I developed my conclusion through analysing the pros and cons of Uber’s current position as a rapid growth start-up valued at $18.2 by several analysts. The strong financing rounds and current investor’s optimism promotes Uber as a financially feasible venture. All data obtained about Uber’s revenue growth suggests solid strength translated by the fact that the firm managed to generate
  63. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     63   incomparably high revenues in a short period of time operating with low expenses not just locally but globally as well. The growth rate of the more efficient shared economy market coupled with Uber’s position, as a market leader in the ride sharing market is a signal that Uber is yet to mature and capture a higher percentage of the market share. Competitors are only taking a small fraction of Uber’s target market, which Uber overcomes by continuously changing its pricing strategies proven to be successful so far. Further potentials also reside in Uber’s possible future attempts to penetrate the logistics industry, if pursed with calculated expenses, Uber may become a fierce competitor in this industry and gain another great market share with more revenues verifying its valuation. The only significant barrier that might face Uber’s growth is governmental opposition and regulations in some countries, but again this will not be worldwide or absolute, on the contrary regulations under public pressure (where Uber is most successful and resisted ) may come in Uber’s favour finally. Finally, Uber’s technology driven success will never seize to scale in proportional to consumers’ thirst for services or products with technological convenience. Revenues of this century belongs to companies similar to Uber, Facebook, etc I believe that Uber is an attractive investment opportunity. If Uber is to go public issuing an IPO, I would recommend investors to buy in to take advantage of the projected increase in the firm’s value
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  68. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC BUSINESS ANALYSIS     68   Mossberg, W. (2014). Uber Announces $1.2 Billion Raise, Confirms $40 Billion Valuation. Re/code. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://recode.net/2014/12/04/uber-announces-1-2-billion-raise-to-focus-on-asia- pacific/ Mymeedia.com,. (2014). Uber’s Next Billion-Dollar Financing Could Be A Convertible Debt Round | via mymeedia. Retrieved 1 December 2014, from http://mymeedia.com/stages/tech/post/5872534 NovoEd,. (2014). Uber. Retrieved 2 December 2014, from https://novoed.com/vc101/reports/173698 Oltermann, P. (2014). Uber taxi service banned in Berlin on safety grounds. the Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/14/uber-taxi-service-banned- berlin-safety-grounds Ong, J. (2014). Uber announces UberRUSH, a bicycle courier service, launching first in Manhattan. The Next Web. Retrieved 1 December 2014, from http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/04/08/uber-testing-uber-rush-bicycle-courier- service-manhattan/ Oremus, W. (2014). Uber Is Now Worth Almost as Much as Hertz and Avis Combined. Slate Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/06/uber_17_billion_val uation_it_s_now_worth_nearly_as_much_as_hertz_and_avis.html Panzarino, M. (2014). Leaked Uber Numbers, Which We’ve Confirmed, Point To Over $1B Gross, $213M Revenue. TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/04/leaked-uber-numbers-which-weve-confirmed- point-to-over-1b-gross-revenue-213m-revenue/ Primack, D. (2013). What will the sharing economy cost U.S.?. Fortune. Retrieved 2 December 2014, from http://fortune.com/2013/06/13/what-will-the-sharing- economy-cost-u-s/ Privco.com,. (2014). Uber Technologies, Inc. | Private Stock: Annual Report & Profile: PrivCo. Retrieved 1 December 2014, from http://www.privco.com/private- company/uber Quora.com,. (2014a). What is the difference between Uber & Lyft? - Quora. Retrieved 1 December 2014, from http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between- Uber-Lyft Quora.com,. (2014b). What is Uber's ultimate goal? - Quora. Retrieved 1 December 2014, from http://www.quora.com/What-is-Ubers-ultimate-goal
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