Uber has raised $three.5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the U.S. experience-hailing service stated on Wednesday, gaining an important associate in its enlargement into the Center East.

The funding from the Saudi Arabian Public Funding Fund was a part of Uber’s most up-to-date financing spherical that valued the corporate at $sixty two.5 billion, Uber stated, making it probably the most extremely valued enterprise capital-backed firm on the planet.

As a part of the funding, a managing director on the fund, Yasir Al Rumayyan, will sit on Uber’s board, the corporate stated in a press release.

Uber has dedicated to investing $250 million within the Center East, the place it has grown aggressively. The corporate says that eighty % of Uber riders in Saudi Arabia are ladies.