Mobile ride hailing startup Uber is expected to hit an annual revenue run rate of $10 billion by the end of 2015, sources told Business Insider’s Henry Blodget.
Uber keeps 20 percent of every transaction, which means Uber will be netting about $2 billion on $10 billion gross revenue.
What’s more, most of Uber’s revenue comes from 10 of its earliest cities, including San Francisco and New York. When its other 140+ cities mature, you can imagine that $10 billion revenue figure multiplying quickly. San Francisco alone generates hundreds of millions of dollars for Uber. Uber is operating in more than 45 countries without having made a single acquisition.
Let’s say that all again:
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Uber is expected to generate $10 billion of which it keeps $2 billion in the next year or two.
That’s not to say the company is profitable. It spends tons of money on marketing tactics to recruit new users and drivers. Still, those figures for a five-year-old startup are staggering.
To put that in perspective, Facebook is expected to generate $10 billion for the first time this year, after 10 years of operation. Granted, Uber and Facebook are entirely different businesses (advertising versus transactional) but yah, $10 billion is a lot.
Blodget also learned that Uber’s revenue will grow about 300 percent this year and it’s expected to grow another 300 percent next year.
Further, Blodget’s sources believe Uber will go public in a few years at a $50-10 billion valuation. Uber’s last valuation exceeded $18 billion.
This story originally appeared on Business Insider. Copyright 2014
