Tata Opportunities Fund (TOF), the private equity fund advised by Tata Capital, has made an investment in the US-based taxi hailing app Uber. This is the first investment by (TOF) in a global company with its headquarters outside India. However, the quantum of investment was not disclosed.

“You will see us rolling out more products, you will see us roll out more payment solutions and more support network and infrastructure,” Uber India President Amit Jain told BusinessLine in an interaction.

For Uber, India is the second-largest market after the US, and the company had earlier committed to invest $1 billion in the country. India was termed as a priority market for Uber worldwide by Uber Technologies Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick.

“Uber’s technology continues to transform the way millions of people commute while creating economic opportunities for hundreds of thousands of first-time entrepreneurs (drivers and owners), who value the flexibility it offers. It is why Uber has grown at such an astonishing rate and continues to lead the way in the Internet economy,” Padmanabh Sinha, Managing Partner at TOF said.

TOF is a $600-million fund, which was raised in early 2013 from certain marquee investors. In addition to the $600-million fund, there is also an appetite for limited partners to invest alongside, he said.

“We have committed about $400 million of the total $600 million. We have an active deal pipeline and are quite confident of deploying it in this financial year itself,” Padmanabh Sinha, managing partner at TOF said.

Uber’s partnership with the Tata Opportunities Fund follows other strategic relationships with Baidu in China, AmericaMovil in Latin America, and American Express in the US.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in

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