Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick starts investment fund focused on ‘large-scale job creation’
There’s life after Uber for Travis Kalanick.
The ride-hailing giant’s co-founder and controversial former chief executive tweeted Wednesday that he will start an investment fund called 10100.
“Over the past few months I’ve started thinking about what’s next,” Kalanick wrote. “I’ve begun making investments, joining boards, working with entrepreneurs and non-profits. Today I’m announcing the creation of a fund called 10100 (pronounced ‘ten-one-hundred’), home to my passions, investments, ideas and big-bets.”
Kalanick said the fund would focus on “large-scale job creation, with investments in real estate, e-commerce, and emerging innovation in China and India.”
It’s unclear what kind of jobs Kalanick is hoping to create. A spokesman for Kalanick declined to provide more details about the fund. At Uber, Kalanick was criticized for kickstarting an entire sector of the tech industry reliant on contract workers rather than employees. Uber itself is expected to someday replace its drivers with autonomous vehicles.
Kalanick will use his own money to capitalize 10100, named after his home address growing up in Los Angeles. Forbes estimates Kalanick’s net worth at $4.8 billion. He sold $1.4 billion worth of Uber stock to SoftBank earlier this year. That amounted to 29% of his stake in the company. The SoftBank deal put the value of Uber at $48 billion.
Kalanick remains a member of Uber’s board. He resigned as CEO in 2017 after the company was mired in a series of controversies that included unethical business practices and ignoring the harassment of employees.
Kalanick said the fund would also house his nonprofit work, which he said centers on “education and the future of cities.”
Twitter: @dhpierson
