Uber riding to new talks with investors

Uber Technologies is raising a new round of funding in talks with investors, according to the company CEO Travis Kalanick.

On Friday, he confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the ride-on-demand company had begun conversations with investors about two weeks ago. But he declined to say how much the company would raise or the potential valuation.

Uber raised $37 million in late 2011. This time, the WSJ said the company is expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. It plans to build a war chest as it pushes abroad and competes with taxi companies. Uber recently cut prices on its uberX service with eco-friendly cars to prices about 10 percent lower than what taxis charge. Uber is in about 35 markets, but rival Lyft has moved into six of them.

Back in April, Uber’s Kalanick said he was not raising funding at a $1 billion valuation, as rumored in a Reuters report. In June, AllThingsD reported that the company was raising a round. An Uber spokesman declined to comment except to confirm what Kalanick told the WSJ.