Lyft, a US-based ride hailing app operator backed by several corporate investors, is raising up to $1bn in its latest funding round, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a Delaware state filing.
The filing did not disclose how much Lyft has so far raised, nor the valuation at which it is seeking the funding, though it is likely to be somewhere between $3.9bn and $4.5bn, experts told Bloomberg.
Launched in 2012 as an offshoot of rise sharing startup Zimride, Lyft has emerged as market leader Uber’s chief rival in the US and is currently present in 190 cities in the country.
Lyft closed $680m in series E funding from China-based ride hailing company Didi Kuaidi, e-commerce firms Rakuten and Alibaba, internet company Tencent and Icahn Enterprises in May this year at a $2.5bn valuation.
The company has raised about $1.1bn in funding altogether. Alibaba previously took part in a $250m series D round in April 2014 also backed by Coatue Management, Third Point Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and Mayfield Fund.
Lyft had initially planned to raise $500m in the upcoming round. The latest round will also include a reportedly modest ratchet function that will provide additional shares to investors if Lyft ends up floating at a lower valuation, according to the documents.