Uber rival Lyft valued at over £1.5bn
TAXI APP Lyft has raised $530m (£353.6m) from a new funding round, softening the blow dealt by a US judge’s ruling against the ride-sharing service.
Lyft is now valued at more than $2.5bn after the round led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten closed this week.
Rakuten now owns an 11.9 per cent stake in the company – which currently only operate in the US – after making a $300m investment.
Rakuten’s founder and chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani said: “We believe the businesses like Lyft that unlocks the latent potential that exists in people and society hold the key to the future.”
Lyft’s path to unlocking the future has been dealt a setback by a San Francisco federal court’s decision to put a lawsuit against the company to a jury.
Lyft and rival Uber are both subject to separate lawsuits from drivers who claim they should be regarded as employees of the company.
If a jury comes down in the drivers’ favour, Lyft’s business model will take on a load of new costs which could include payment of drivers’ expenses.