Amid heightening competition, Uber to use latest $1.2B round for ‘substantial investment’ in Asia Pacific

The taxi app war in Asia escalated today to a whole new level, with Uber raising a mammoth US$1.2 billion in funding at a US$40 billion valuation. According to a blog post by CEO Travis Kalanick, the fresh funds will allow Uber to make “substantial investments” in the Asia-Pacific region.

The new funding round could not have come at a better time, with Uber facing roadblocks in multiple countries across Asia. Within one month, it has been declared illegal in Thailand, and stifled by the Reserve Bank of India. It’s also in talks with the Philippine government after Manila’s taxi industry shook its fists at the company.

Despite its tussles with local authorities (which are by no means unique to Asia), Uber has also seen its fair share of influential supporters in Asia. In Vietnam, transport minister Dinh La Thang has even stepped forward to voice his opinion that the service should be legalized, albeit under regulation – this coming just a day after the ministry of transport branded Uber as an illegal company. Singapore’s LTA also issued regulations on taxi-booking apps, but has yet to lay down frameworks to control Uber’s peer-to-peer services.

A perennial disadvantage that Uber will face is its outsider status in the face of several incumbents who have a laser focus on their respective regions. With GrabTaxi boosting its war chest with an additional US$250 million, Uber now has to carefully consider how to best channel its funds towards taking down the presumed Southeast Asian market leader. Moreover, it has to compete with Ola in India, which recently became US$210 million richer as well.

And let’s not forget Rocket Internet’s EasyTaxi, who raised US$40 million in its latest series D funding round earlier this year.

Kalanick boasts that Uber is now “in over 250 cities in 50 countries […] six times bigger today than 12 months ago.” In Asia, that won’t necessarily work in its favor, though the enormous amount of money at Uber’s disposal now just might prove us wrong.

See: Wary of regulatory hurdles, Uber is registered as a travel agency in Japan