Microsoft invests $100 million in Uber, Google's interests threatened

Recently, Uber, the world's largest mobile travel service provider, completed a new round of financing with a total of US$1 billion. The company's valuation has also reached US$50 billion, making it the world's most highly valued non-listed technology company. It is worth noting that Microsoft invested US$100 million in Uber this time, which was beyond the media's expectations. As the relationship between Uber and its long-time ally Google has cooled, Microsoft is taking advantage of the opportunity to reap the benefits.

Bloomberg News quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Microsoft's investment in Uber is $100 million, which is the largest investment in Uber. In addition to Microsoft, other investors include Indian venture capital firm Bennett Coleman.
Previously, Uber's valuation was around tens of billions of dollars, but this round of financing increased its valuation by $10 billion to $50 billion, setting a record for the highest valuation of a non-listed technology company.


Business Insider, a mainstream American online media, pointed out in a report that Microsoft's $100 million investment in Uber looks strange.
As we all know, Nadella is making major restructuring and adjustments to Microsoft's business. He has identified three strategic directions: office software enterprise services, personal computing and cloud computing. Uber's mobile travel services have nothing to do with Microsoft's three major strategies.
However, as the relationship between Uber and its old shareholder Google cools, Microsoft sees a good opportunity to enter Uber, which may achieve the market competition effect of "disrupting Google". Microsoft can not only lay out the mobile Internet on-demand economy, but also the massive traffic data generated by Uber passengers around the world every day will also be of certain value to Microsoft.
In the development of Uber, Google is a strong strategic ally. As early as 2013, Google Ventures, Google's venture capital business, invested $250 million in Uber. Subsequently, Google Maps also provided strong support to Uber, and users can use Uber to call and rent cars on Google Maps.
However, Uber is developing at an alarming speed and entering more and more fields. Uber and Google are changing from allies to competitors. Previously, Uber and Carnegie Mellon University in the United States cooperated to jointly develop driverless technology, which is exactly the project that Google has been working on.
In addition, news shows that Google is also developing a mobile travel client internally, and there are even reports that Google will use driverless electric vehicles to provide a new private car service.
Earlier this year, Google upgraded its voice assistant tool Google Now and cooperated with external mobile Internet companies on data. Users can use voice to query or search for services from Lyft (a mobile car company that competes with Uber), music streaming service provider Pandora, and short-term rental tool Airbnb. In terms of car-hailing, Google did not first choose its long-term ally Uber, but chose Lyft. This choice was also surprising.
Uber has long relied on Google Maps for its mapping business, but the company has decided to build its own digital mapping business. In June, Uber acquired part of the data production business of Microsoft's Bing Maps, and about 100 employees moved from Microsoft to Uber.
While the relationship with Google is cooling, the relationship between Uber and Microsoft is heating up. At this year's Microsoft BUILD Global Developer Conference, Uber also came to Microsoft's platform and demonstrated how to use Uber tools to call a taxi directly in Microsoft's email and calendar tool Outlook.
Currently, Microsoft is pushing the latest Windows 10 operating system to personal computers around the world, in an effort to build a powerful Windows 10 application ecosystem through free upgrades. This ecosystem will not only cover computers, but also mobile phones.
Mashable, a US technology news website, pointed out that Microsoft's $100 million investment in Uber is just the beginning of the cooperation between the two parties. In the future, Uber will be integrated into the Windows 10 platform at a deeper level to promote the expansion of taxi-hailing services around the world.
It is reported that Uber's services have covered more than 300 cities in nearly 60 countries around the world. With the latest billion-dollar financing, Uber's global expansion plan will be accelerated. Among them, Uber announced that it will invest $1 billion in the Indian mobile travel market, and India's strategic position will be as important as the Chinese market.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.