From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uber is an American international company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It develops, markets and operates the mobile-app-based
transportation network also called Uber. The Uber app allows consumers to submit a trip request, which is routed to crowd-sourced taxi drivers.
[1][2] As of March 26, 2015, the service was available in 55 countries and more than 200 cities worldwide.
[3] Since Uber's launch, several other companies have emulated its business model, a trend that has come to be referred to as "Uberification".
[4][5]
Uber was founded as "UberCab" by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009 and the app was released the following June. It raised $49 million in venture funds by 2011. Beginning in 2012, Uber expanded internationally. In 2014, it experimented with carpooling features and made other updates. It continuously raised additional funding, reaching $2.8 billion in total funding by 2015.
Many governments and taxi companies have protested against Uber, alleging that its use of unlicensed, crowd-sourced drivers was unsafe or illegal.