The incredible rise of Uber
01 March 2016
The billion dollar car ride
It’s been around for less than six years and yet many of us wouldn’t be able to function without the car-sharing service. We chart Uber’s incredible journey so far.
Back to the start
While the exact origins of Uber vary depending on what you read, the company says it all began on a winter’s night in Paris in 2008 when friends and entrepreneurs Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had trouble hailing a cab…
Great minds
What’s certain is the pair were in Europe attending LeWeb, an annual tech conference, looking for their next challenge. They were both recently cashed-up and looking to invest in the next big start-up. Kalanick had sold his start-up Red Swoosh, a company that supplied websites with content, for around $20 million (£14.3m), while Camp sold his web discovery engine StumbleUpon to eBay for $75 million (£53.6m) the previous year.
The lightbulb moment
Back in San Francisco, Camp was gripped by the idea of creating a service where, with just the touch of a button, users could call a black car service. He convinced Kalanick to work with him on it.
Early beginnings
The first prototype of UberCab was built by Camp, two old school friends and Kalanick. The latter, according to early documentation, was on board as “mega advisor”.
Go time
Because neither Kalanick or Camp actually wanted to run the company, they brought in relativity unknown techie Ryan Graves. In June 2010 UberCab officially launched in San Francisco, working out of a tiny shared office space.
Instant success
Two weeks after it became available in the App Store, UberCab’s 10 drivers were doing more than 10 rides per weekend night. The price of a ride was around 1.5 times more expensive than a regular cab.
The first hurdle
In October 2010, UberCab received a cease and desist order from the San Francisco Metro Transit Authority & the Public Utilities Commission of California for operating like a cab company without proper licensing.
A fresh start
The company plowed on, changed its name to Uber in October 2010, and went live on the Android smartphone operating system.
Mixing up management
In December 2010, after securing $1.25 million (£890k)-worth of investments, Graves, who had become CEO, stepped back down to general manager and the more experienced Kalanick moved into the role of CEO. Many say Kalanick had the “Steve Jobs mentality” that was needed to push the company to greater heights.
New York, New York
In mid-2011, Uber went live in New York City. Since then it’s provided 80,000 rides per day!
Time to expand
Over the next six months Uber landed in Seattle, Boston, Chicago (pictured) and Washington. It also started its international expansion in Paris.
The money pours in
By December 2011, Kalanick announced that Uber had raised $37 million (£26.4m) investments from Menlo Ventures, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (pictured) and Goldman Sachs.
Budget options
In July 2012, Uber unveiled Uber X. Using hybrid vehicles like the Prius, rides are 35% cheaper than Uber’s original black car service.
Raking in the mega bucks
In August 2013, at just three years old, the company scored $361.2 million (£258m) in new funding – with a massive $258 million (£184m) investment from Google Ventures – and is valued at $3.7 billion (£2.6m).
Going global
By September 2013, Uber was also operating in Africa and India. Today it operates in 60 countries around the world.
Covering all the bases
In April 2014 Uber launched UberRUSH, a bicycle delivery service, in Manhattan. The service starts at a flat fee of $15 (£10.70).
Taking on China
Uber moved into China in July 2014 after raising $1.2 billion (£860m) and a $17 billion (£12bn) valuation.
Want a ride?
In late 2014 Uber launched UberPOOL, which gives users the option of splitting the ride and cost with another person on a similar route. Recently Outkast musician Andre 3000 made headlines when he accidently chose UberPOOL but enjoyed the company of his fellow passenger so much he invited her to come along to the Kayne West recording session he was heading to. According to TMZ she met P.Diddy and French Montana.
Moving day
In early 2015 Uber branched out again, this time with UberCARGO in Hong Kong, which basically allows users to hire an Uber for all moving and delivery needs.
Driverless cars
In early 2015, the Uber Advanced Technologies Center was founded in Pittsburgh. The reason? To one day create driverless cars. CEO Kalanick told Code conference in 2104: “The reason Uber could be expensive is because you’re not just paying for the car, you’re paying for the other dude in the car”.
Getting hungry
In April of the same year UberEATS was launched. It’s currently available in a bunch of Uber cities around the world including LA, Barcelona, Chicago and Paris. It’s an on-demand food delivery service allowing users to get their meals delivered in minutes.
In the headlines for all the wrong reasons
But not everyone loves Uber. In June 2015, violent protests broke out across France as taxi drivers blocked roads, burned cars and attacked suspected Uber drivers.
It doesn’t stop there
Many cities around the world have since protested about Uber putting local taxi drivers out of work. There have been ugly protests from London to Toronto to Bali.
Famous driver
In 2015 Miami Uber users were able to a score a ride with a celebrity after NFL star A.J Francis revealed he was working as an Uber driver in his offseason, picking up clients in his white Dodge Charger. Despite commanding $530,000 (£378k) from the NFL, the former Miami Dolphins defensive lineman worked 8-hour days, 3-4 days a week as a driver. The star has since been drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, but there’s no word if he’ll be taking his services there.
The billionth ride
On Christmas Eve 2015 in London, a $7 (£5) ride became the company’s billionth Uber trip. To celebrate, the customer, a man called Marvin, received a year’s worth of free rides while the driver Ara got a vacation to any Uber city in the world. And the district where the ride was taken, Hackney, received a donation for a local charity.
Can you say aww
To celebrate National Cat Day in the US, Uber teamed up with animal charities to offer UberKITTENS where people in 50 cities had the chance to buy 15 minutes of cuddly, furry bliss with homeless kittens. The sessions cost $30 (£21.40).
Man’s best friend
And they didn’t forget the dog lovers out there. UberPUPPIES landed in Australia last month, teaming up with local shelters delivering puppies to eight cities across the country. A 15-minute cuddle session set customers back $40 (£28.5), with all money going to the shelters.
Hop on
Forget regular cars, motorbikes are Uber’s latest business model. Showing how adaptable they are to various markets around the world, they recently released UberMOTO in gridlocked Bangkok where rush-hour traffic grinds the city to a halt.
Swanky new office
Showing just how much the company is growing, Uber is upgrading to a fancy new HQ. Located in San Francisco’s Mission Bay the 423,000-square foot office is expected to be open for business in late 2017.
It's unstoppable
Right now it seems like there isn’t much Uber can’t do. In under six years, the company is now operating in over 380 cities around the world including Sydney, Madrid (pictured) and Shanghai.
Sitting on top of the world
What started out as a simple idea to get a ride around the city is now a business worth $62.5 billion (£44.6bn). Since starting the company Camp(left) and Kalanick have joined the billionaires’ club, worth $6.2 billion (£4.4bn) each!
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