A few days ago, Uber published its results accounts, where it could be seen that the firm's revenue is around $11.3 billion and that it has had a loss of $1.8 billion during the 2018 period.
These are quite high figures that call into question the sustainability of the business model, however, the way to achieve profitability for Uber seems clear: grow fast.
Due to the lack of time, and knowing that the IPO is expected during 2019, Uber looks set to continue to pursue a growth model based on acquisition process.
In this post we will see what kind of companies it is acquiring lately and what is the strategy behind each of these specific actions.
Careem
Acquired on 26 March 2019 for $3,100M, it is the Uber's largest mobility company competitor in the Middle East, by the end of 2018 it had more than 30 million users distributed in 120 cities Middle East.
This acquisition is highly relevant as it marks Uber's strategy for growing in the Middle EastThis may seem normal given that one of Uber's biggest investors is Saudi Arabia's own sovereign wealth fund.
This strategy clashes completely with Uber's divestments in China and Southeast Asia.
Jump Bikes
Jump Bikes es una empresa centrada en el motosharing and bikesharing business which currently operates in the US, Germany and Portugal.
The company was bought in April 2018 by $200M with the aim of expanding its area of action all over Europe and to be able to offer a cross-selling from Uber's own app to offer the full range of urban mobility to customers.
Otto
Otto is an American company operating in the business of autonomous drivingwhich was founded in January 2016.
In August 2016, i.e. seven months after it was founded, it was acquired by Uber for $680M with the intention of entering the autonomous car market.
In this case Otto is betting not only on automating cars, but also on entering the car market. distribution via autonomous trucks and vans.
Complex Polygon
The acquisition of Complex Polygon was carried out in 2017, with the aim of acquiring talent in the production of PPPs and creation of interfaces.
In this case the valuation of the purchase has not been made public, although it is estimated to be in the region of below $56MWith this purchase, Uber is guaranteed to acquire a dozen highly sought-after employees to improve the interface of the group's APPs and enhance their functionality.
In conclusion, UBER appears to be making a fairly substantial investment by gaining a foothold in growing marketsThe EU's strategy of avoiding conflict with highly protectionist countries and seeking to "monopolise" the world's major markets by investing the cash obtained from divestments from China and Southeast Asia in those countries.
In addition to this first step, it is looking for an immersion in a buoyant business such as that of the autonomous vehiclesThe company is not only committed to passenger transport, but is also entering the transport sector.
Finally, it is trying to find the visual and functional improvement of PPPs to make them more intuitive and useful, seeking a conversion and standardisation of their daily use.
