US-based ride hailing platfirm Lyft raised $1bn yesterday in a funding round led by CapitalG, the growth-stage investment arm of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet.
Lyft has not named any other investors in the round, which valued it at $11bn and which was first rumoured last month. CapitalG partner David Lawee has joined Lyft’s board of directors in connection with the round.
The deal came shortly after Lyft entered talks with investment banks about a possible initial public offering in 2018, according to the New York Times.
Lyft operates an on-demand ride-hailing platform that is available in approximately 300 cities across the US. It has completed more than 500 million rides and competes with Uber, which is backed by Alphabet’s GV unit, though Lyft remains in second place.
The company has not clarified what it intends to do with the capital, though it has been on an expansion drive that has taken it from 54% coverage of the US population at the beginning of 2017 to 95% this month.
Lyft has now secured more than $3.1bn in funding, having raised $25m from car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover and its InMotion Ventures unit in June 2017.
E-commerce firm Rakuten took part in Lyft’s $600m series G round in April 2017, which also featured KKR Next Generation Technology Fund, Janus Capital Group, Baillie Gifford, AllianceBernstein and PSP Investments, at a $7.5bn valuation.
Rakuten had already participated in a $1bn series F round for Lyft in January 2016 led by a $500m investment by carmaker General Motors, with participation from e-commerce group Alibaba, ride hailing service Didi Chuxing, Janus Capital and Kingdom Holding.
Alibaba, Rakuten, Didi Chuxing, internet group Tencent and conglomerate Icahn Enterprises supplied $680m in series E funding for Lyft in 2015, after Alibaba, Coatue Management, Third Point Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and Mayfield Fund put in $250m in 2014.