Uber said to be raising $1B at a $10B valuation for its self-driving car unit

Uber is in negotiations with investors, including the SoftBank Vision Fund, to secure an investment as large as $1 billion for its autonomous vehicles unit. The deal would value the business at between $5 billion and $10 billion, according to a Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal.

Uber declined to comment.

The news comes shortly after TechCrunch’s Mark Harris revealed the ridehailing firm was burning through $20 million a month on developing self-driving technologies, which means, according to our calculations, that Uber could have spent more than $900 million on automated vehicle research since early 2015.

According to the WSJ, the deal could close as soon as next month, shortly before Uber is expected to complete a highly-anticipated initial public offering. Uber, in December, filed the necessary paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to go public in 2019. The documents were submitted only hours after its competitor Lyft did the same; Lyft, for its part, unveiled its S-1 earlier this month and will debut on the Nasdaq shortly.

Uber, to date, has raised nearly $20 billion in a combination of debt and equity funding, reaching a valuation north of $70 billion. The business is said to be seeking funding for its self-driving business in order to tout the unit’s growth and valuation. After all, a $10 billion sticker price on its AV efforts may bandage its reputation, damaged by continued reports questioning its progress.

Alphabet-owned Waymo, meanwhile, is reportedly looking to raise capital, too. This would be the first infusion of outside funding for the autonomous vehicle business, rolled out of Alphabet’s Google X. According to The Information, which broke this news on Monday, Waymo would raise capital at a valuation “several times” that of Cruise, the AV company owned by General Motors.

Raising capital from outside investors would help limit costs and would allow Alphabet the opportunity to display Waymo’s valuation for the first time in several years. Alphabet, however, does not want to relinquish too much equity in the business, justifiably. Waymo, years ago, was valued at $4.5 billion, though analysts claim it could surpass a valuation as high as $175 billion based on future revenue estimates.

Waymo didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Other investors in Uber’s purported round include an “unnamed automaker,” per the WSJ. Uber’s existing backers include Toyota, SoftBank, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity and TPG Growth.

Uber’s net losses were up 32 percent quarter-over-quarter as of late last year to $939 million on a pro forma basis. On an EBITDA basis, Uber’s losses were $527 million, up about 21 percent. The company said revenue was up five percent QoQ sitting at $2.95 billion and up 38 percent year-over-year.