“We are off to a terrific start in 2018,” says Uber chief

Uber’s revenue revved in the first quarter of this year and that its value climbed to $62 billion in a new funding round, AFP reported.

The ride-hailing firm said its net revenue in the quarter was $2.5 billion — up 67 percent from the same period a year earlier — on sales that climbed 55 percent to $11.3 billion.

“We are off to a terrific start in 2018,” Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in an emailed statement.

According to Khosrowshahi, the business outperformed an internal roadmap and continues to grow “at healthy rates” as company losses are being “significantly” reduced.

Uber’s adjusted net loss in the first quarter was $577 million, the San Francisco-based company said. Uber reported a loss of $708 million in the same period last year.

The loss excluded a $3 billion first quarter gain from the sale of its Southeast Asian operations to local rival Grab, along with a merging of its business in Russia with Yandex.

Uber also confirmed it plans to sell between $400 million to $600 million in stock at $40 per share to a pair of current investors and a new investor, at a valuation of about $62 billion.

That figure represents a jump from Uber’s valuation of $48 billion when SoftBank bought a stake in the startup last year.