With a higher valuation than all of its competitors combined, Uber is the undisputed leader of the ride-sharing market, which is why so many of its smaller competitors have been joining forces, because there’s no way they can compete with Uber by themselves. That being said, forming partnerships doesn’t do much if you don’t have money to expand, which is why Lyft is looking for as much as $1 billion in new funding. That much funding would bring the startup’s valuation to around $4 billion, which is definitely impressive, but Uber’s projected valuation is nearly sixteen times that amount.
Uber is a master of the $1 billion funding round. Since June 2014, the car-hailing service has raised six rounds of that much or more. Most recently, Uber was said to be seeking another $2.1 billion in financing that would value it at $62.5 billion—more than the market cap of General Motors. Now, Uber’s biggest rival in the US is getting into the billion-dollar funding game, too. Per Bloomberg, Lyft is looking to raise as much as $1 billion in a round that could boost its valuation to around $4 billion. (We’ve reached out to Lyft for comment, and will update this post if they respond.) The new fund-raising plans come as the competition against Uber—from Lyft and others—has ratcheted up. In September, Lyft allied with Didi Kuaidi, another ride-hailing giant and Uber’s stiffest competition in China. The deal promised to give Lyft a much-needed international presence and Didi Kuaidi a chance to mess with Uber on its home turf. Earlier this month, that partnership expanded to include two other Uber opponents: Ola, a big ride provider in India, and GrabTaxi, a company that operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.
