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SAN FRANCISCO — Uber is fund-raising again.
旧金山——Uber又要融资了。
The mobile car-hailing application is in early talks to raise a new round of financing that could value the start-up at $50 billion, according to a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke anonymously because the process is confidential. Uber could raise around $1.5 billion, given the amount of interest from investors in the company, the person said.
据一名熟悉洽谈内情的人士透露，这款移动打车应用正在就新一轮融资展开初步洽谈。这一轮融资对这家创业公司的估值可能为500亿美元（约合3100亿元人民币）。此人以洽谈过程属于机密为由要求匿名，他说，考虑到投资者对该公司的兴趣之大，Uber可能会融到15亿美元左右。
The new capital will not be used primarily for expansion purposes, unlike Uber’s previous financing rounds. Instead, the funding is strategic, with an eye on partnerships, the person said.
和Uber以往几轮融资不同的是，新的资金不会主要用于扩张目的。上述人士称，这是一次战略融资，将着眼于合作关系。
Uber declined to comment. The fund-raising was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Uber拒绝发表评论。《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)最先报道了本轮融资。
Uber, based in San Francisco, has raised money relentlessly in recent years at rapidly swelling valuations. So far, the company has raised more than $4 billion as it moves into new markets globally, disrupting established taxi and other transportation industries by letting people request rides through their smartphones. The company was founded in 2009 and is led by Travis Kalanick, who is chief executive.
最近几年，总部位于旧金山的Uber不断融资，估值迅速飙升。迄今为止，随着进军全球新市场，该公司已融资逾40亿美元。通过让人们在智能手机上发出乘车请求的方式，Uber打乱了老牌出租车及其他运输行业的旧秩序。该公司成立于2009年，由首席执行官特拉维斯·卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)领导。
In December, Uber closed a $1.2 billion round of financing that valued it at $40 billion. The company then moved to accommodate additional investors like Baidu, the Chinese Internet giant.
去年12月，Uber结束了一轮12亿美元的融资。该轮融资对其的估值为400亿美元。后来，该公司又引进了一些投资者，如中国互联网巨头百度。
That round followed one in June, when the service said that it had raised $1.2 billion at a valuation of $17 billion.
在12月那一轮融资之前的6月还有一轮。公司称当时融资12亿美元，估值为170亿美元。
At a $50 billion valuation, Uber would be the world’s most valuable private start-up, topping the Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi, which was last valued at $45 billion. It would also be worth more than publicly traded companies like FedEx, with a market value of $48 billion, and Nissan Motor, with a capitalization of $47 billion.
500亿美元的估值将使Uber超越中国电子制造商小米，成为世界上估值最高的私人初创公司，小米在上一次融资估值达到450亿美元。此外这还超过了联邦快递(FedEx)和日产汽车(Nissan Motor)等上市公司的市值，后两者市值分别为480亿美元和470亿美元。
The divide between Uber and other “unicorns” — Silicon Valley’s term for billion-dollar start-ups — would also grow. Even at its current $40 billion valuation, it was nearly triple that of other elite Silicon Valley start-ups like the data analysis firm Palantir, according to the research firm CB Insights. Among Silicon Valley start-ups, only Facebook had attained a $50 billion valuation as a private company.
Uber与其他“独角兽型企业”——硅谷对市值超过10亿美元的初创企业的称呼——之间的差距会不断拉大。投资研究机构CB Insights的数据显示，即便以当前的400亿美元估值，也是数据分析公司Palantir等硅谷优秀初创企业的将近三倍。在硅谷的初创企业中，只有Facebook在上市前拿到过500亿美元的估值。
Uber’s new fund-raising discussions come as many Silicon Valley start-ups have been on a fund-raising tear. This week alone, the lending start-up Affirm said it has raised $275 million in debt and equity at an undisclosed valuation, while Zenefits, a software-as-a-service start-up, said it had raised $500 million at a valuation of $4 billion. The fund-raising has also taken place against a more compressed time period, with Zenefits boosting its war chest in less than a year from a previous financing round.
在Uber进行新一轮融资商谈的同时，很多硅谷初创公司都掀起了融资潮。仅在本周，借贷初创企业Affirm就宣布获得了2.75亿美元的债务及股权融资，估值并未对外公布。而软件服务初创企业Zenefits则表示，该公司筹得5亿美元，估值达到40亿美元。这一轮融资也是在较短时期内举行的，Zenefits在距离上一轮融资不到一年的时间里就再次增加资金。
The action is not only taking place in the United States. This week, drone maker DJI, which is based in Shenzhen, China, said it raised $75 million from venture capital firm Accel Partners.
并非只有美国出现了融资潮。本周，总部位于中国深圳的无人机制造商大疆公司(DJI)得到了风险投资商阿克塞尔合伙公司(Accel Partners)的7500万美元投资。
