US finance and technology giant Fidelity Investments is reportedly competing to lead an investment round that would value US car-sharing venture Uber at around US$17bn.
According to Bloomberg Uber is in talks with new private equity investors to raise US$1bn to expand its operations.
Fidelity has become an active investor in closely-held tech start-ups along with other investment firms including T. Rowe Price.
Uber was founded by Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009 and has raised US$307m from investors that include Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, TPG Capital and Google Ventures.
The company arranges pickups in luxury vehicles in 115 cities around the world. Cars can be reserved by using a mobile app.
The arrival of the service in cities like London and Paris has not been welcomed by taxi drivers and last month London black cab taxi drivers threatened to disrupt traffic if Transport for London refused to ban Uber in London.
Uber image via Shutterstock
