Uber Spends $ 200 Million on Uber Freight Expansion in Trucking and Chicago – TechCrunch



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Uber Freight is headquartered in Chicago as part of Uber's broader plan to invest more than $ 200 million a year in the region, including hiring hundreds of workers.

Uber announced Monday that it will hire 2,000 new employees in the region over the next three years. most will be dedicated to Uber Freight .

Uber Freight, which helps truckers connect with transportation companies, has become an important part of Uber's broader commercial strategy to generate revenue from all modes of transportation, including parcel logistics. The announcement follows a disappointing quarter for Uber, which included a staggering $ 5.2 billion loss.

Since its launch in May 2017, Uber Freight has moved from limited regional operations in Texas to the rest of the continental United States and Europe.

In August 2018, Uber turned Uber Freight into a separate division. Since then, the company has redesigned the application by adding new navigation features that make it easier to customize search and load filtering, as well as other features, including an updated map. view and a search bar at the top of the screen.

He also made key recruitments, one of which reflected the company's global ambitions. The company hired Andrew Smith, one of Box's first employees, to lead global sales of Uber Freightand Bar Ifrach, formerly of Airbnb, at the head of his market team.

With signs of success, Uber is stepping up its operations in the trucking industry.

Uber Freight has more than 400,000 drivers in its transportation network and more than 1,000 shippers, including AB Inbev, Niagara Bottling and Land O'Lakes, according to the company. Uber Freight also has more than 50,000 carriers on the platform.

"I think it makes Uber Freight the largest virtual fleet in the US," Lior Ron, director of Uber Freight, told TechCrunch in a recent interview.

The company remained relatively silent, Ron said, noting that the announcement marked a turning point for Uber Freight.

"This is really a graduation moment for us and we can share it because business is going so well that we are doubling our investment," he said.

The new Uber office located in The Old Main Post Office, in the historic Chicago River district, will serve as the Uber Freight headquarters and will be its first engineering center outside of San Francisco.

"Trucking represents a huge opportunity for Uber, and this milestone demonstrates our long-term commitment to our freight business," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. said in a statement. "Chicago is the heart of the US transportation and logistics industry, and there is no better place to open our cargo headquarters. Uber has long recognized the incredible history, innovation and talent that Chicago has to offer, and we are excited about the thousands of new jobs our freight company will help create, and we will become one of the largest employers. technology of the city. "

As part of its new investments in the region, Uber is collaborating with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (CCWP) to contribute to diversity in the workplace. Uber will start integrating new employees in 2020 and will work with CCWP to develop a process for identifying potential candidates through their system.

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