Uber Investor Sues Company Founder Over Failure to Disclose Use of “Greyball” Technology

The website Axios reports that Benchmark Capital is suing Travis Kalanick over failure to disclose problems at the company.

Travis Kalanick. (Image by Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media)
By Rachel Monahan

When the New York Times broke the story in March that the ride-hailing company Uber had evaded Portland regulators with a high-tech tool called Greyball, among the interested readers were Uber's early investors.

In a lawsuit filed today in Delaware, investor Benchmark Capital accuses former CEO and founder Travis Kalanick of failing to disclose to the board the use of Greyball as well as other problems, including "pervasive gender discrimination and sexual harassment," the website Axios first reported.

Greyball technology was used in Portland in 2014, before City Council agreed to welcome the company to town. The software prevented regulators from actually hailing an Uber, populating the ride-sharing app with images of fake cars designed to trick inspectors.

A preliminary investigation by the city into Uber found no evidence of wrongdoing since 2014. But city officials subsequently subpoenaed the Greyball technology playbook and other records.

The investor lawsuit aims to kick Kalanick off the board. Axios reports that Kalanick through a spokesperson said the lawsuit was "without merit."

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