It appears that nothing can slow down the might of controversial taxi-firm Uber.
The private-car firm keeps going from strength to strength, highlighted by its latest fundraising to raise as much as US$2.1bn.
It would value the company at a whopping US$62.5bn, making it the most valuable private start-up ever, beating car giant General Motors’ US$55bn market value (NYSE:GM.).
San Francisco-based Uber is expanding throughout Asia, particularly in China, where the company expects to spend US$1bn.
The firm, which uses an app for people to hail its private-hire cars, has reportedly claimed that people will no longer bother buying cars, because of the ease and convenience of its service.
But Uber faces a growing number of rivals around the world, including Didi Kuaidi in China, Ola in India, GrabTaxi in Singapore and Lyft in the US.
And the firm is embroiled in a number of legal battles around the world, especially in the UK, where taxi driver have staged protests against the firm.
Reportedly, Uber attracted investments from Tiger Global Management and T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW) as part of this financing round, while previous rounds have attracted backers including tech giant Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT).