Riding on the global e-commerce wave, the Tata group has entered into a strategic partnership with US-headquartered app-based taxi aggregator Uber Technologies Inc. In what could be the first time an India-focused fund has invested in a firm outside India, Tata Opportunities Fund (TOF), part of Tata Capital’s private equity arm, has acquired a minority stake in Uber for an estimated $100 million.



“It is the first time that such a high-profile global company was looking for an India-focused investor, hence the investment,” says Padmanabh Sinha, managing partner at TOF’s advisory team in India.



UBER’S INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS India: Tata Group

China: Baidu

Latin America: AmericaMovil

US: American Express

“Our partnership with Uber is beyond this investment and the work is in progress to leverage multiple touch points in the Tata ecosystem,” says Sinha, citing the strength of the Tata group, which has been backing all investments made by the $600-million fund since its start in 2013. With this investment, Sinha is expecting TOF to be fully invested by the end of this year and then look to raise more funds.Uber, which entered India less than two years ago, is currently offering services in 18 Indian cities — this is more than in any other country except the US. With its current base of over 150,000 driver-entrepreneurs, and a robust month-on-month growth rate of 40 per cent, the company has quickly gained a significant market share of over 35 per cent in India, Uber claims.“This is a strategic partnership that looks beyond the (present) investment,” says Amit Jain, head of operations for Uber in India. “We partnered with them for their consumer-centric approach, and the investment is just the first step among many to come,” he adds.

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The investment follows Uber’s July announcement that it will spend $1 billion to expand into more cities, aiming to hit one million trips a day in six to nine months. Microsoft Corp invested about $100 million in Uber at a valuation of approximately $50 billion.



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Besides its partnership with the Tata group, Uber has strategic relationships with Baidu in China, AmericaMovil in Latin America, and American Express in the US. Each of these partners has brought an extensive network to help significantly increase the adoption of Uber’s services in over 60 countries and 330 cities globally.



“Right now, we are particularly focused on building a great service for hundreds of millions of Indians,” Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick said in a statement. “Tata’s leadership and experience will be crucial in helping us meet this important goal.”



The Tata group aims to reach a market valuation of $350 billion in a decade, up from $134 billion at the end of last financial year. This aim has been built significantly around the booming e-commerce sector — the group last month unveiled its plans for three ventures in the internet start-up space.



Tata’s new ventures are the much-talked-about e-tail business, based on the marketplace model; a start-up for health & wellness business; and a customer analytics platform. The plan for these start-ups was presented by Tata Industries at its annual group leadership summit in Mumbai on Wednesday. Its collaboration with Uber emphasises the Tata group’s bet on the e-commerce wave to propel its next round of growth.