Uber makes its first acquisition as it snaps up mapping firm deCarta
Taxi hailing app Uber has purchased its first start-up in a bid to improve its GPS mapping capabilities in a move which could see it break its reliance upon Google's services.
Uber, valued at $40bn in December, will close the deal with the San-Jose firm for an undisclosed fee later this week, according to a Mashable report.
The deal marks Uber’s first acquisition since it was founded five years ago, with it now bringing deCarta’s expertise in mapping and local search under its wing.
Uber said: “A lot of the functionality that makes the Uber app so reliable, affordable and seamless is based on mapping technologies.
“With the acquisition of deCarta, we will continue to fine-tune our products and services that rely on maps - for example, UberPooL, the way we compute ETAs, and others - and make the Uber experience even better for our users.”
DeCarta will operate as an Uber subsidiary following the acquisition.