According to a recent article on SFGate, Japanese technology and media giant SoftBank, is weighing an investment in Uber, at a time when the San Francisco ride-hailing company is at its most “delicate.”
So far SoftBank’s interest in Uber is in its infancy, and the two companies have only held preliminary meetings, said anonymous sources at Uber.
But if a deal were to be reached, it would add to a convoluted web of investments in the ride-hailing industry, where competitors have become strange bedfellows through investors who have placed bets on multiple companies.
SoftBank holds a position in Ola, the dominant ride-hailing company in India, which is locked in a battle with Uber across the country. SoftBank has also invested in Didi Chuxing, which until last year was deadlocked with Uber for supremacy in China’s transportation market.
On Sunday, SoftBank also invested in Grab, a Singaporean ride-hailing company, in a $2.5 billion round that Didi Chuxing also participated in.
Recently, Softbank participated with China’s Didi Chuxing in raising capital in the amount of $2.5 billion for Southeast Asia’s Grab Taxi, also an Uber adversary.
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