Lyft, a US-based on-demand ride service backed by several corporates, has raised $500m from undisclosed investors at a post-money valuation of $7.5bn, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
The story cited three people familiar with the matter, who added that the round could potentially be increased by up to $100m before it closes.
Lyft operates a ride hailing platform that stretches across more than 300 US urban centres. It has not disclosed strategic plans for the new funds but has launched in almost 100 new towns and cities so far in 2017 and intends to round the figure up to 100 by year’s end.
The company’s user numbers have been boosted by the recent bad publicity attracted by ride-hailing market leader Uber, which has led Lyft to present itself as a more progressive alternative in the US despite many of their business practices being similar.
The new capital increased Lyft’s total funding to more than $2bn since it was founded in 2012. Carmaker General Motors invested $500m to lead its last round, which closed at $1bn in January 2016 at a $5.5bn post-money valuation.
The 2016 round also featured Lyft’s Chinese counterpart Didi Chuxing as well as e-commerce firms Rakuten and Alibaba, publicly-listed Saudi Arabian asset manager Kingdom Holding and investment management firm Janus Capital Management.
Alibaba had previously taken part in a $250m series D round in 2014 that included Coatue Management, Third Point Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and Mayfield Fund, before joining Rakuten, Didi Chuxing, internet group Tencent and Icahn Enterprises for a $680m series E the following year.
– Image courtesy of Lyft, Inc.