Prepending Edit: If you're reading this and have a lot more familiarity in how investments of this kind are made, and what kinds of things these investors are thinking, I really am making this post looking for education. I didn't finish college, and don't know a lot, but I'm trying. If you'd rather not stir the pot by talking here, my e-mail is in my profile.
The one thing that makes me skeptical about this, is historical data. From what I'm seeing, the entire US Taxi/Limo market is $11bn in value. So for them to achieve this, they'd need ~80%+ market share in the US, plus a high market share in both Europe and Asia. This is a valuation that smells similar to the WhatsApp deal, where the timeline to succeeding this valuation is 15-20 years out.
Is there some data I'm missing here that implies my data(from [1] for example) is flawed? Or that maybe this isn't such an out-there valuation, by way of possible growth from ridesharing, or other avenues Uber could explore without straying too far from their primary purpose?
http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1951
The one thing that makes me skeptical about this, is historical data. From what I'm seeing, the entire US Taxi/Limo market is $11bn in value. So for them to achieve this, they'd need ~80%+ market share in the US, plus a high market share in both Europe and Asia. This is a valuation that smells similar to the WhatsApp deal, where the timeline to succeeding this valuation is 15-20 years out.
Is there some data I'm missing here that implies my data(from [1] for example) is flawed? Or that maybe this isn't such an out-there valuation, by way of possible growth from ridesharing, or other avenues Uber could explore without straying too far from their primary purpose?
http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1951