UberPop did not provide those insurances, and instead said the drivers would have to pay them themselves. As that is not acceptable for the drivers, and Uber directly suggests the drivers to just drive without insurance, the courts ruled that Uber will be fined 240k€ for every business interaction its UberPop service does without providing this insurance.
Remember, not all taxi regulations in Europe are crazy, most actually make sense.
That's a bold claim. No government is immune from protectionism legislation and corruption, in fact this is the defacto mode of almost all governments. I'm getting a little sick of Europeans thinking their shit doesn't stink. Paris cab drivers were throwing cinder blocks onto cars with impunity last month. You people aren't special, you're just unbelievable statist to the point of not questioning your government. The German laws sound corrupt as well. Everything about the taxi industry is a shitshow. Lets all accept that. This is why Uber is so exciting and popular. The cab industry deserves to be disrupted. Considering political corruption over the decades, this path won't be easy, but its worth doing.
Uber is not even treated legally as taxi service, but as chauffeur-for-hire service, meaning they only need to do 2 things: Their drivers have a drivers license, their cars are insured.
The drivers license for taxi drivers, chauffeurs and bus drivers costs 55€. fifty-five Euro. That’s nothing.
And one can reasonably demand that cars on the street are insured, as especially in car crashes it is helpful.
Usually there is a international growth employee that comes to a city, establishing an office and looking for key hires such as marketing and operation analysts. At least in Brazil, they also spend a good amount of money hiring security for big events for preventing assaults from regular taxi drivers, lawyers and also paying the bills for when Uber cars are towed away by city law enforcers.
They are constantly issuing vouchers for free and discounted rides, as well as making promotional campaigns where they deliver ice cream or nail-care services for free.
Alternatively you can just search "uber invite" on Twitter and you'll find any number of people hawking their own referral links. There was an article earlier in the year about someone who gained tens of thousands of dollars in Uber credit through taking advantage of the referral system: http://www.businessinsider.com/blake-jareds-50000-uber-credi...
Basically, they're spending up to about $50 for each pair of users engaging in that way. It's likely the users will eventually become loyal Uber customers, but Uber might not realize that return in the short-term. It's the cost of growing so quickly, and the money they've raised is essentially to fund this.
Depending on the city the promotions may get more aggressive, they also have a Get $25, Give $25 deal for referring new riders.
Sure they need developers, infrastructure, marketing and all the stuff required to run any business, but the drivers and vehicles aren't costing them money. So why do they need $1bn in cash? It would be very interesting to see the Uber yearly budget.