Timeline of Uber

This is a timeline of the American company Uber, a transportation network company, which offers a variety of transportation and logistics services, and is an early example of the rise of the on-demand economy.

Full timeline

Year Month and date Event type Details
2009MarchCompanyUber founded as UberCab.[1][2]
2010JulyCompanyUber goes live for the first time in San Francisco.
2010DecemberTeamRyan Graves steps down as CEO in favor of Travis Kalanick.
2011 February 14 Funding Uber announces it has raised $11 million in Series A round led by Benchmark Capital.[1]
2011MayNational expansionUber goes live in New York City.
2011 December 5 International expansion Uber expands beyond the United States, starting by expanding into Paris, France.
2011 December 7 Funding Uber announces it has raised $37 million in Series B round, including investors such as Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures (with Shervin Pishevar leading Menlo's investment), and Bezos Expeditions.[1]
2012July 2 International expansionUber launches in London, United Kingdom.[3]
2012 July ProductUber announces UberX, a service that uses lower-cost hybrid vehicles.[4]
2012AugustCompetitionLyft, a competitor to Uber, launches in San Francisco
2013 July International expansion Uber expands to Asia launches in Taiwan, starting in Taipei
2013 August 8International expansionUber expands to Africa, launches its first product in Johannesburg, South Africa.[5]
2013 August 23 Funding Uber confirms it has raised $258 million in Series C round at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation, with investors including Google Ventures and TPG Growth.[1]
2013August 29International expansionUber expands to India, launching its first product in Bangalore.[6]
2014 April 7ProductUber launches Uber Rush in New York City, a courier service using bicycle messengers to deliver packages. This marks the beginning of Uber's transition into a logistics company.[7]
2014 June 6 Funding Uber confirms it has raised $1.2 billion in a Series D round, with a pre-money valuation of $17 billion. Key investors include BlackRock, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (with partner Megan Quinn), Menlo Ventures, SherpaVentures (with partners Shervin Pishevar and Scott Stanford), Summit Partners, and Wellington Management.[1][8][9][10]
2014 July 15 International expansion Uber officially launches in China, starting with Beijing.[11]
2014 July 24 International expansion Uber officially launches in Lagos, Nigeria, expanding its presence to Western Africa.[12]
2014 August 6 Product Uber announces UberPool, which lets riders share rides based on proximity.[13]
2014 October 22 - November 19 Controversy On October 22, 2014, an article by Sarah Lacy in PandoDaily was published where she sharply criticised the "asshole culture" of Uber and said she intended to delete the app from her phone.[14] On November 17, 2014, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith reported that Uber senior executive Emil Michael "outlined the notion of spending 'a million dollars'" to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. He said that team could help Uber fight back against the press by looking into "personal lives, your families". Michael was particularly focused on journalist Sarah Lacy, who accused Uber of “sexism and misogyny".[15] Lacy wrote a sharp response critical of Uber's actions.[16] The controversy was picked up by CNBC,[17] Business Insider,[18] and the New York Times Bits blog.[19] Michael Wolff, the journalist who had arranged for and invited Smith to the private dinner where the controversial remarks were made, wrote a lengthy piece about the controversy, stating that Uber executives had believed that the event was off-the-record, but that he (Wolff) had failed to communicate the information to Smith.[20]
2014 December 4 Funding Uber confirms it has raised $1.2 billion at a $40 billion pre-money valuation in a Series E round. Key investors include Qatar Investment Authority, Valiant Capital Partners, Lone Pine Capital, New Enterprise Associates, and SherpaVentures.[1][21]
2014 December 8 Product Uber expands UberFRESH in some parts of the Los Angeles area to include dinner delivery during weekdays.[22][23][24]
2014 December 8 Controversy An Uber driver in Delhi allegedly rapes a passenger when driving her home late at night.[25][26]
2014 December 16Funding Chinese search technology company Baidu announces a $600 million strategic investment in Uber, also classified as a continuation of the Series E round, thereby bringing the Series E total to $1.8 billion.[1]
2015 January 21 Funding Uber gets $1.6 billion from Goldman Sachs in debt financing.[1]
2015 January 22International expansionUber launches its first product in East Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya.[27]
2015 February 2 Team Uber opens robotics research facility In Pittsburgh to build self-driving cars. In May, Uber poaches 50 employees from Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center.[28]
2015 February 14 Competition Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, the two biggest players in the low-cost app-based taxi hailing market in China, announce a merger into Didi Kuaidi. The merged company would be significantly larger than Uber in China.[29]
2015 February 18 Funding Uber raises an additional $1 billion in its $40 billion pre-money valuation Series E, increasing the total Series E money raised to $2.8 billion (after adding the first $1.2 billion and the next $600 million raised from Baidu). The additional investors are Times Internet, Foundation Capital, and Accelerated IT Ventures.[1]
2015 April 28 Product UberFRESH, which launched in the Los Angeles area in August 2014, rebrands itself as UberEATS. The rebranding is linked to an effort to rapidly expand to other areas. The service is already available in New York City and Chicago and plans to expand to many other locations.[30][31]
2015 June 17 Legal California Labor Commission deems Uber drivers as employees.
2015 July 15 Legal Administrative judge recommends that Uber be fined $7.3 million and suspended from operating in California.[32]
2015 July 31 Funding It is announced that Uber has completed a Series F round, raising $1 billion at a $50 billion pre-money valuation (so a $51 billion post-money valuation). Key investors are Microsoft and Bennett, Coleman, & Co, Ltd., the parent company of The Times Group, India's largest media conglomerate.[1][33][34]
2015 August 19 Funding Uber raises $100 million in private equity from the Tata Opportunities Fund, a fund of the Tata Group in India, with the goal of using the money to help it double down on its India operations.[35][36]
2015 September 9 Competition Chinese Uber competitor Didi Kuaidi, the entity formed through the merger of Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, raises $3 billion to move more aggressively in its battle to maintain market dominance against Uber in China.[37]
2015 December 3 Funding Uber announces that it is raising $2.1 billion at a $62.5 billion valuation.[38][39]
2015 December 3 Competition Uber competitors Lyft (United States), Didi Kuaidi (China), Ola Cabs (India), and GrabTaxi (South-East Asia) (all of which have Softbank as an investor) announce a global technology and service alliance.[40]
2015 December 9 Product UberEATS, Uber's food delivery service, is spun off into a separate standalone app, and now offers all-day delivery in Toronto. The new app is not available for other regions.[41]
2016 March 1 and 15 Product On March 1, the new UberEATS app with all-day delivery luanches in Los Angeles, California.[42][43] On March 15, it launches in Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco, and announces plans to launch in a number of other US cities in the coming months.[44]
2016 April 12 International expansion Uber launches in Buenos Aires, Argentina amidst claims of illegality and taxi protests.[45]
2016 May 7–9 Local retreat On May 9, Uber and Lyft cease operations in Austin, Texas.[46] This is in response to a city ordinance upheld by Austin voters on May 7 that would require drivers for Uber, Lyft, and other transportation network companies to get fingerprint checks, to have their vehicles labeled, and to not pick up and drop off in certain city lanes.[47]
2016 May and June Product Uber announces that it is changing its app to inform riders of the price of their ride when they book it, rather than simply providing a surge multiplier. The move is prompted by the observation that UberPool users, who do see the ride price upfront, are more likely to continue using the service. Price changes triggered by destination changes will be sent to riders in real time. Changes to routes due to traffic or other reasons not under the rider's control will not result in a change to the price charged upfront. The move is not an end to surge pricing but rather a change in the way the surge pricing is communicated to customers. The change, officially announced in late June, had already been rolled out at the time of announcement in several cities, and had received some commentary in May.[48]
2016 June 9 Product Uber opens up the Uber RUSH API to developers. The goal of this API is to make it easy for merchants to integrate the use of Uber drivers into their delivery system. The tool has been used by select small businesses since October 2015, and the opening up to the public is to encourage more widespread adoption.[49][50]
2016 June 30 International expansion Uber launches in Kiev, Ukraine.[51]
2016 July 24 Local retreat Uber leaves Budapest, Hungary.[52]
2016 July 28 Legal The Chinese government issues guidelines to make ride-hailing services, such as Uber, legal in the country.[53]
2016 August 1 competition, mergers Didi Chuxing (formerly Didi Kuaidi), the dominant player in China's ridesharing market, agrees to buy Uber China, Uber's business in China.[54] The Uber brand will be retained, but Didi would “integrate the managerial and technological experience and expertise of the two teams.” Uber reportedly lost $2 billion trying to make inroads in China.[55]
2016 August 18 (announcement) Product, automation Uber announces plans to launch service with self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where its robotics research facility, built with employees poached from Carnegie Mellon University in 2015, is located. The cars are modified version of the Volvo sports utility vehicle equipped with Uber's technology for self-driving. Cars will have drivers at the wheel, monitoring the vehicle, as required by law. The move is seen by commentators as the first step in Uber's ambitious goal of replacing its entire fleet with autonomous vehicles.[56][57][58]
2016 September 16 Product Uber begins mapping UK streets in an effort to identify the best pick-up and drop-off points from its own images.[59]
2016 November 2 Product, user experience Uber launches a redesigned rider app, with a simplified user flow that focuses on identifying the destination first, then shows ride options with prices, and then gives driver contact information and allows riders to make adjustments such as split fare and get more information about the destination.[60] The app also connects better with the user's current location, real-world identity, favorite places (such as work and home) and integration with services such as Foursquare and Yelp for destination-specific information, in what is seen as an attempt to pull users into spending more time in the app.[61][62]
2017 March Product Uber begins beta testing a program in select cities to pick up passengers aged 13 through 17, previously not allowed on the company's terms of service.[63]
2017 June 6 Team CEO Travis Kalanick takes summer sabatical after an investigation into the company's workplace culture. [64]
2017 June 21 Team Travis Kalanick resigns as CEO[65]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Uber in Crunchbase". Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Uber Startup Timeline". Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  3. ↑ Dredge, Stuart (2 July 2012). "Apps Rush: Uber, Google Analytics...". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Julian Chokkattu, Jordan Crook. "A Brief History Of Uber". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ Jon Russell (August 8, 2013). "Uber Comes to Africa with Johannesburg Launch". Thenextweb.com. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  6. ↑ Prithivi, Swsthy (August 29, 2013). "Hello India! secret users have arrived in Bangalore". Uber Blog. Uber. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ Joshua Brustein (April 7, 2014). "With Uber Rush, the Car Service Tests Manhattan-Only Courier Service - Businessweek". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  8. ↑ Andrew Ross Sorkin (2014-06-09). "Why Uber Might Well Be Worth $18 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  9. ↑ Kalanick, Travis (June 6, 2014). "4 Years In". Uber (blog). Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  10. ↑ Stone, Brad (June 6, 2014). "Q&A: Travis Kalanick on Uber's New $17 Billion Valuation". BusinessWeek. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  11. ↑ Tejada, Carlos (July 15, 2014). "Uber Launches in Beijing, Will Face Uber-Heavy Traffic Jams". The Wall Street Journal - China. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  12. ↑ Jacques Coetzee (July 24, 2014). "Uber launches in Lagos as it further expands into Africa". Ventureburn.com. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  13. ↑ Josh Ong (August 6, 2014). "Uber Announces UberPool, a Carpool Service with 40% Lower Prices". Thenextweb.com. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  14. ↑ Lacy, Sarah (October 22, 2014). "The horrific trickle down of Asshole culture: Why I’ve just deleted Uber from my phone". PandoDaily. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  15. ↑ Smith, Ben (November 17, 2014). "Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists. Senior Vice President Emil Michael floated making critics’ personal lives fair game. Michael apologized Monday for the remarks.". BuzzFeed. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  16. ↑ Lacy, Sarah (November 17, 2014). "The moment I learned just how far Uber will go to silence journalists and attack women". PandoDaily. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  17. ↑ DiChristopher, Tom (November 19, 2014). "Uber will do anything to intimidate journalists: Lacy". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  18. ↑ Johnston, Matt (November 17, 2014). "Journalist An Uber Exec Reportedly Suggested Publicizing Personal Details About Has Responded". Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  19. ↑ Isaac, Mike (November 18, 2014). "Uber Executive’s Comments Leave Company Scrambling". New York Times (Bits blog). Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  20. ↑ Wolff, Michael (November 19, 2014). "Wolff: Behind the scenes at Uber/BuzzFeed fracas". USA Today. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Uber raises $1.2 billion for global expansion, CEO acknowledges culture shortcomings". BizJournals. December 4, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  22. ↑ Chelsea (December 8, 2014). "Your Dinner Is Arriving Now". Uber. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  23. ↑ Kosoff, Maya (December 8, 2014). "Uber's Seamless Killer Is Launching A Dinner Option In Los Angeles". Business Insider. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  24. ↑ Harris, Jenna (December 8, 2014). "Uber launches $3 food delivery service UberFresh". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  25. ↑ "All you need to know about Delhi rape case and Uber outrage". DNA India. December 8, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Delhi Uber Rape Case". Indian Express. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  27. ↑ Stevis, Matina (January 22, 2015). "Kenya Says Karibu (Welcome) to Uber". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  28. ↑ Josh Lowensohn. "Uber gutted Carnegie Mellon's top robotics lab to build self-driving cars". Theverge.com. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  29. ↑ Shih, Gerry (February 14, 2015). "China taxi apps Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache announce $6 billion tie-up". Reuters. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  30. ↑ Chelsea (April 28, 2015). "UberFRESH Is Now UberEATS". Uber. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  31. ↑ Elliott, Farley (May 4, 2015). "UberFRESH Rebrands to UberEATS Just in Time to Expand Like Crazy". Eater. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  32. ↑ Nelson, Laura; Chang, Andrea; Dave, Paresh (July 15, 2015). "Uber should be suspended in California and fined $7.3 million, judge says - LA Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Uber valued at about $51 billion after latest funding round: WSJ". Reuters. July 31, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  34. ↑ MacMillan, Douglas; Demos, Telis (July 31, 2015). "Uber Valued at More Than $50 Billion. Ride-sharing app, which just closed a funding round, reaches mark faster than Facebook". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  35. ↑ "Tata Capital invests in taxi hailing app Uber". DNA India. August 19, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  36. ↑ Scott, Mark (August 19, 2015). "Uber Raises $100 Million From Tata of India". New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  37. ↑ Carew, Rick (September 9, 2015). "Didi Kuaidi Closes $3 Billion Funding Round. The ride-hailing company’s fundraising is part of its escalating battle in China with rival Uber". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  38. ↑ Newcomer, Eric (December 3, 2015). "Uber Raises Funding at $62.5 Billion Valuation". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  39. ↑ Griswold, Alison (December 3, 2015). "Uber thinks it’s worth more than General Motors". Quartz. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  40. ↑ Purnell, Newley (December 3, 2015). "Four Uber Rivals Are Now in International Alliance". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  41. ↑ Hempel, Jessi (December 9, 2015). "The UberEATS Standalone App Has Nothing to Do With Rides". Wired Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  42. ↑ "UberEATS Spins Off Into Standalone App With All Day, On Demand Delivery. Launching today.". Eater. March 1, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  43. ↑ Carson, Biz (March 2, 2016). "Uber's GrubHub killer is finally in the US — here's the inside story on its big bet on food". Business Insider. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  44. ↑ "Uber Just Launched Its Food-Delivery UberEATS App in First US Cities". Wired Magazine. March 15, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  45. ↑ Byrne, Paul (12 April 2016). "Uber Launches in Argentine Capital Despite Protests". New York Times. AP. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  46. ↑ MacMillan, Douglas; Silverman, Rachel Emma (May 9, 2016). "Uber, Lyft Shut Down in Austin Over Fingerprint Vote. Ride-hailing companies suspend operations in Austin". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  47. ↑ Woodyard, Chris; Toppo, Greg (May 8, 2016). "Uber, Lyft halt Austin service after losing vote". USA Today. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  48. ↑ Griswold, Alison (May 26, 2016). "Uber has quietly started to end surge pricing as we know it". Quartz. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  49. ↑ Kokalitcheva, Kia (June 9, 2016). "Uber Makes Its Delivery Service Available to Any Merchant With Some Coding Chops". Fortune. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  50. ↑ Weinberger, Matt (June 9, 2016). "Uber's ambitious master plan is tied to a pizza startup backed by a Flickr cofounder". Business Insider. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  51. ↑ "Uber Has Arrived to Another European Capital – Kyiv!". UBER Newsroom. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  52. ↑ "Ez volt az Uber utolsó vonulása". Origo news. 24 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  53. ↑ "China Said to Legalize Uber, Didi Ride-Hailing as War Rages". Bloomberg News. July 28, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  54. ↑ Newcomer, Eric; Wang, Selina (August 1, 2016). "In Deal With Didi, Uber Frees Itself to Expand in Other Markets". Bloomberg News. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  55. ↑ Lacy, Sarah (August 2, 2016). "Welcome to the new Uber-Didi duopoly, suckers! The three options Lyft has left". PandoDaily. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  56. ↑ Vlasik, Bill; Isaac, Mike (August 18, 2016). "Uber Aims for an Edge in the Race for a Self-Driving Future". Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  57. ↑ Bensinger, Greg; Nicas, Jack (August 18, 2016). "Uber to Put 100 Autonomous Volvo SUVs on Road in Pittsburgh. Uber Technologies this month will let customers in Pittsburgh summon rides from autonomous taxis". Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  58. ↑ Marshall, Aarian; Davies, Alex (August 19, 2016). "How Pittsburgh Birthed the Age of the Self-Driving Car". Wired Magazine. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  59. ↑ "Uber starts mapping UK city streets". BBC News. 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  60. ↑ "Where to?". Uber. November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  61. ↑ Benner, Katie (November 2, 2016). "Updated Uber App Will Connect Your Calendar With Your Ride". New York Times. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  62. ↑ Bensinger, Greg (November 2, 2016). "Uber Overhaul Aims to Keep Users Inside the App. Ride-hailing startup is adding app features such as access to Yelp reviews, Snapchat social network". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  63. ↑ "Uber to allow teen passengers with pilot program". KING-TV. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  64. ↑ "Uber recommendations show company was ‘out of control’". 14 June 2017.
  65. ↑ Isaac, Mike (2017-06-21). "Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
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