Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to launch investment fund called ‘10100’

The fund will oversee for-profit investments as well as non-profit work and focus on education and future of cities

Former Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick leaves the San Francisco federal court during a Waymo-Uber autonomous car secrets trial in San Francisco, California, U.S., February 7, 2018. (REUTERS)

Travis Kalanick, the former Uber chief executive, announced on Wednesday in a Twitter post that he is going to start an investment fund called 10100.

The overarching theme of the new fund, pronounced "ten-one-hundred", will be to invest in real estate, ecommerce and emerging innovation in China and India, Kalanick said in a tweet.

The fund will oversee for-profit investments as well as non-profit work and focus on education and future of cities, Kalanick said. Twitter was abuzz with speculation behind the meaning of the new fund's name.

One user suggested that it could be a reference "Googol" or "10 to the power 100."

Kalanick was forced out as the company's CEO in July over a number of controversies and mis-steps, including allegations of widespread sexual harassment against women in the company.

Susan Fowler, a former site reliability engineer, levelled numerous allegations of sexism against her former superiors in a blog post. This led to further allegation from other employees, prompting Uber to conduct internal investigations.

Kalanick still remains on the company's board of directors. Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009 and made the ride-hailing app one of the world's most valuable companies.

In his 2016 trip to India as Uber CEO, Kalanick had urged ex-servicemen in India to avail entrepreneurship opportunities with the company as driver partners. Kalanick also felicitated some drivers for their extraordinary service to the country.

(with inputs from IANS).