Uber Technologies Inc. has turned to a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker to run its mergers and capital-markets group.
The ride-hailing giant hired Sarah-Marie Martin, a 25-year veteran of Wall Street, as a senior executive in its corporate finance and capital markets group. The 48-year-old had spent five years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as a senior banker covering alternative investment firms and private equity clients.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Sarah Marie to the team,” said Noah Edwardsen, a spokesman for Uber. Before joining Uber, Martin had a brief stint as the chief financial officer at baby food maker Yumi, which she joined last year.
In February, Uber CFO Nelson Chai said the company will use M&A to augment organic efforts. The company went public with the help of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in 2019 and has turned to debt markets to raise capital in the past.
Uber has invested heavily in the last two years to expand Uber Eats after demand for ride-hailing cratered and forced the company to pivot amid the pandemic-induced boom in food delivery. Uber’s purchase of Postmates for $2.65 billion helped Eats gain share over rival DoorDash Inc. Meanwhile, the $1.1 billion deal to buy Drizly added alcohol delivery to the platform.
The company’s purchase of its remaining stake in Cornershop for roughly $1.4 billion kicked off its ambitions in grocery and increased its presence in Latin America. Uber also bought logistics firm Transplace in August to further diversify revenue.
Martin, who sometimes moonlights at her husband’s bakeries in New York and New Jersey, is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Business School.
At Uber, she replaces, Madhu Kannan, who returned to Bank of America Corp. as vice chair of its corporate and investment banking business. Senior bankers often take up high-profile roles with corporate clients; a move from a corporate role back to banking is much more rare.
