Who's Getting Super Rich Off Uber?
Uber is so hot with investors right now, they're in the position to dictate their own valuation. And now that number is set to hit $17 billion, the ride-sharing darling is poised to mint a new class of Uber-rich investors.
According to Fortune, Uber's latest fundraising round means that early investors have already seen a 2000x return on their initial investments—on paper, at least. That return means that a small $20,000 angel investment would be worth $40 million today.
Similar to the way early bets on Facebook solidified the status of top-tier investors like Jim Breyer, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and David Sze, Uber is the game-changing home run for dozens of angel investors.
Among the next wave of top-tier investors?
— Jason Calacanis. Calacanis recently launched Inside.com, a news app. He's led several syndicates of angel deals on AngelList, and in addition to Uber, backed Chartbeat and Whisper.
— Troy Carter. Known as Lady Gaga's former manager, Carter has made a name for himself as a venture investor through his fund, AF Square, which has backed Fab, Warby Parker and Dropbox.
— Adam Leber. Leber, who has worked as a producer for Britney Spears, has also backed Path and Everlane.
— Robin Sloan Bechtel. Bechtel works with musicians on digital strategy. She helped Britney Spears partner three of her investments: Path, Everlane and Uber.
Universal Music Group, however, will not be joining the list of newly-minted Uber titans. The company, which sold Uber its uber.com domain in 2010 for stock, quickly sold the stock back to the transportation company for "a small profit." Had they held out, they'd be sitting on over $100 million in profit.
