Uber CEO admits he tried to undermine Lyft's fundraising efforts
IMAGE: EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Travis Kalanick is really not an enemy you want to have.
In a new profile of the Uber CEO published in Vanity Fair, Kalanick openly admits that he tried to undermine the ability of Lyft, the startup's chief rival in the car-hailing space, to raise funding from investors.
We knew that Lyft was going to raise a ton of moneyWe knew that Lyft was going to raise a ton of money,” Kalanick told the magazine. “And we are going [to their investors], ‘Just so you know, we’re going to be fund-raising after this, so before you decide whether you want to invest in them, just make sure you know that we are going to be fund-raising immediately after.’”
Lyft announced raising a significant $250 million funding round in April. Not long after, Uber announced raising more than $1 billion.
Throughout this year, Uber has developed a reputation for hyper-aggressive — and, some might argue, unethical — tactics against its competitors. Uber has admitted to ordering and canceling rides from Gett, a competitor in New York, and was accused of doing the same to Lyft drivers several months later through what one publication described as an elaborate "sabotage campaign."
Kalanick, who cofounded Uber in 2009 and took over as CEO the following year, has become fond of saying Uber is engaged in a "political campaign" against an "asshole named taxi." As part of that effort to compete against the taxi establishment and taxi startups, Uber has had to get more strategic and more aggressive.
“It’s douche as a tactic, not a strategy," one anonymous investor told Vanity Fair of Kalanick's approach to the market. Other investors we've spoken with have been a bit more blunt on the matter.
"Travis just has this focus and drive and nothing is going to get in the way of his objectives," Mike Walsh, a partner at Structure Capital and an early investor in Uber, told Mashable in a previous article. "Every interaction I’ve had with him, it's like ‘We are just kicking ass. We are going to continue to kick ass, and if people get in the way, we are just going to run over them.’”
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"Travis just has this focus and drive and nothing is going to get in the way of his objectives," Mike Walsh, a partner at Structure Capital and an early investor in Uber, told Mashable in a previous article. "Every interaction I’ve had with him, it's like ‘We are just kicking ass. We are going to continue to kick ass, and if people get in the way, we are just going to run over them.’”
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