PayPal invests $500 million in Uber ahead of companys IPO: report

Global online payments system PayPal will be investing $500 million in cab services provider Uber, ahead of the much anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO). "I don't think you spend that kind of money unless it's part of a global strategy to enable these new super-platforms," CNBC quoted Ryan Gilbert, Partner at Venture Capital Firm Propel Ventures, as saying.

Last month, the American payments major had invested $750 million in Argentina-based E-commerce giant MercadoLibre. "PayPal needs to step on the growth gas pedal and these investments will buy the company access to millions of global customers", reported The Economic Times.

According to TechCrunch, Paypal has been working with Uber since 2013 providing payment services to the cab aggregator. It is Uber's lead processing partner in the US and Australia, but not the only one globally.

 It is however, interesting to note that this is the second pre-IPO investment that Uber has announced this month after the self driving unit of the ride-sharing major had announced a $1 billion investment from Japanese conglomerate Softbanks Vision Fund, car manufacturer Toyota and automotive component supplier Denso last week, the report added.

As per reports, Uber has officially filed its IPO process last week with the public filing of its prospectus. The ride-sharing giant will be listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol "UBER".

As per market sources, the company may provide a price range for its shares later this month and will go Public in May.

(Edited by: Nehal Solanki)

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