THE NEWS WRAP: Uber now the world’s most highly valued private startup

Popular ride-sharing platform Uber is now valued at over US$50 billion after closing a funding round of $1 billion.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, investors in the round included Microsoft, which is said to have contributed $100 million.

Uber has been operating for five years, meaning it has hit the $50 billion mark two years quicker than social network giant Facebook.

It now tops the list of 104 venture-backed startups valued at more than $1 billion, moving past Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp to be the world’s most highly valued private startup.

LinkedIn moves to syndicate users’ content

LinkedIn has sent an email to 500 users, dubbed “influencers”, asking permission to automatically hand over material they post to other sites for republishing.

According to Recode, content on LinkedIn is already commonly syndicated, but this has previously been a manual task, with sites having to contact the writer directly.

There’ll be no money changing hands either way, LinkedIn head of content business Dan Roth says.

“There’s so much more we want to do with it,” Roth says. “The monetisation part is not part of the discussion. It’s all about engagement.”

Indian Amazon competitor Snapdeal raises $500 million

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has teamed up with Indian-based online marketplace Snapdeal to gain a foothold in one of the biggest ecommerce markets in the world.

As Re/code reports, Snapdeal has closed a $US500 million funding round led by Alibaba, with other investors including iPhone manufacturer Foxconn and Softbank.

Founded in 2010, Snapdeal is an online shopping marketplace which has recently acquired many of its competitors, including FreeCharge and RuperPower.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 56.12, falling 0.32% overnight to 17,689.86. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US73 cents.

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