In the years since its founding in 2009, Uber instigated a revolution in transport, spread its disruptive business model into a range of sectors and became one of the world’s most valuable private tech companies. But the one thing it could not do was turn a consistent profit.

Then, seven months ago, the company — now listed — reported $1.1bn in annual operating profits, its first ever. This was something investors had long been clamouring for. Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi called it an “inflection point” in Uber’s history: a company once beset by disputes with regulators and allegations of a toxic culture, even theft of trade secrets, had turned a corner. It was proof, Khosrowshahi announced, that Uber could “generate strong profitable growth at scale”.

The big question for Uber, 15 years on, is how to keep it up. Khosrowshahi, who took over in 2017, brought the company to operating profitability by homing in on its core business, cutting costs and offloading experiments including its driverless vehicles unit. But for Uber to keep growing, it will need to keep adding customers for its expanding roster of services.