Uber raised $1.2 billion in its latest funding round and had additional capacity remaining for strategic investments, 
valuing the U.S. taxi service firm at $40 billion.
New investors in the startup’s latest round of funding includes Middle East sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority. Qatar is one of several foreign investors with whom Uber has discussed a strategic investment as the startup looks to expand into new geographical locations.
Uber was valued at $18.2 billion in June, when it raised $1.2 billion from mutual funds and investors, including Fidelity Investments, Wellington Management and BlackRock. Uber launched in the region last year.
Qatar has recently replaced the head of its fund with a member of the Gulf State’s royal family, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud Al-Thani.
Dubai based start-up Careem, which also operates an online chauffeur-driven car booking service, announced that it has careemraised about $10 million investment in a round led by Saudi’s Al Tayyar Travel Group, STC Ventures and other regional investors.
Easy Taxi, another online taxi booking service that operates in the Middle East secured funding from “Mobily Ventures”, the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Mobily, bringing its total funding to $77 million.
