谷歌会投资Uber吗？

    《财富》杂志（Fortune）获悉，打车应用Uber提前进行谈判，希望通过新一轮融资从几位不太寻常的投资者那里募集至少1.5亿美元。

    此次融资预计将由私募股权公司德州太平洋集团（Texas Pacific Group，TPG）牵头。德州太平洋集团击败了其他几家竞争对手，而且此次交易也是该公司少数几个不包括过半数所有权的投资。实际上，此次交易甚至可能无法达成，因为Uber要求的投资前估值超过了30亿美元。另外一种可能是，所有或部分投资由TPG的增长型股权子公司提供。

    除了现有的股东外，如基准资本（Benchmark），谷歌风投（Google Ventures）预计也会参与投资。这也有些不同寻常，因为谷歌风投通常只投资规模较小、处于发展早期的公司。这也是为什么我当初听成 “谷歌资本”会参与投资的原因——因为“谷歌资本”主要投资成熟企业，尤其是因为“谷歌资本”最近挖走了TPG的合伙人基尼•弗朗茨——但事实似乎并非如此（另：之所以在“谷歌资本”打引号，因为严格来说，这个部门目前还没有出现……）。

    这样的组合对于这样一笔交易确实非常有意思。虽然很少有传统风投企业会牵头如此大规模的融资。而且，谷歌（Google）投资Uber也是出于自身的战略思考——尤其是公司最近收购了社交地图应用Waze（虽然谷歌风投在这家科技巨头内是一个独立的部门）。

    特拉维斯•卡兰尼克是Uber创始人兼CEO，他并不打算在此次交易中出售所持有的任何股份。虽然公司在亏损，但只要Uber达到一定的规模，个别地区性市场就能够实现盈利。公司的毛利率预计为订车费用的20%至30%。

    不过，当前的形势并不确定，因为卡兰尼克在周二晚上曾向我暗示，我所听说的大部分信息都是“内部消息”（虽然我当初并没有披露所了解到的具体细节）。但昨天，在风险投资协议电子邮件的细节被报道之后，我获得了更多的信息来源，而且我可以确认这就是整个事件的现状。

    今天上午，AllThingsD也报道了TPG和谷歌风投参与投资的消息。

    但TPG与谷歌风投都拒绝发表评论。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓 

    On-demand ride service Uber is in advanced talks to raise at least $150 million in a new round of funding from some unusual sources, Fortune has learned.

    Private equity firm Texas Pacific Group is expected to lead the round after beating out several other bidders, in one of its very few deals that would not include majority ownership. In fact, it wouldn't even be close since Uber is asking for a pre-money valuation well north of $3 billion. There also is a possibility that some, or all, of the investment could come from TPG's growth equity affiliate.

    Google Ventures also is expected to participate, alongside certain existing shareholders like Benchmark. This also is a bit unusual, given that Google Ventures typically invests in smaller, earlier-stage companies. That's probably why I originally heard were that the later-stage "Google Capital" would invest – particularly since it recently poached TPG partner Gene Franz – but that does not seem to be the case (btw: quotation marks around "Google Capital," since that unit doesn't technically exist… yet).

    Certainly an interesting pairing for this type of deal, although few traditional VC firms could lead a deal of this size and there clearly is strategic wisdom in Google (GOOG) getting tighter with Uber – particularly after its recent Waze acquisition (even though Google Ventures runs as an independent unit within the tech giant).

    Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick is not planning to sell any of his own shares in this transaction. The overall company loses money, but individual geographic markets are profitable once Uber achieves a certain level of scale. Its revenue margins are estimated at between 20% and 30% of bookings.

    This is still a fluid situation, with Kalanick suggesting to me on Tuesday night that much of what I'm hearing comes from an "echo chamber" (albeit without me having first disclosed specifics of what I'd heard). But I got a bit more sourcing done after originally reporting some of these details in yesterday's Term Sheet email, and am comfortable that this is where things currently stand.

    AllThingsD also is reporting the TPG and Google Ventures involvement this morning.

    Both TPG and Google Ventures declined to comment.