Just when you thought the startup market can’t possibly get any crazier, Uber goes and raises another $3.5 billion in funding

That jaw-dropping amount of money, the single largest round of funding ever raised by a private U.S. company, highlights both the insatiable appetite certain startups have for capital and the little-discussed way they get that money.

Uber’s $3.5 billion in funding didn’t come from the usual collection of venture capital firms, technology giants or even the mutual funds who have been flooding the market with cash. Instead, all of that Uber money came from one source: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.  Read more…