Lyft Gets $500 Million in New Funding as Its Rival Uber Wobbles -
By MIKE ISAACAPRIL 6, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO — For years, Lyft has trailed its larger rival Uber in the battle to conquer the ride-hailing market.
The smaller ride-hailing company has secured up to $500 million in a new round of funding
that values Lyft at $6.9 billion before the addition of new capital, according to two people briefed on the discussions, who asked to remain anonymous because the details were confidential.
In an interview with Time last month, Lyft’s president, John Zimmer, said of Uber’s problems: “We’re woke.” He added
that Lyft, in contrast to Uber, was “a better boyfriend.”
Uber has rejected assertions that its business has been materially affected by its troubles.
The company has said its growth over the first 10 weeks of 2017 was larger than the same period in 2016,
and trips in less mature regions like Latin America were up 600 percent from a year earlier.
The financing gave Lyft a $2.4 billion increase in value since the company last raised money in 2016.
Lyft’s previous investors included the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.
