Ride-hailing startup Lyft is on the verge of raising more than $500 million in funding. The new round values the company at $7.5 billion, a source confirmed to Coins2Day.
Lyft has been working on raising capital for months, as it continues to aggressively expand in order to compete with Uber. The company hired Qatalyst Partners to assist in attracting investors and, one has to imagine, took advantage of Uber’s months-long streak of bad publicity when making its pitch. While the two companies share a similar business model, Lyft has consistently presented itself as a friendlier version of the Travis Kalanick-helmed company.
Lyft was last valued at $5.5 billion, when it raised $1 billion in January 2016. Previous investors include Uber-rival Didi Chuxing, Andreessen Horowitz, and GM, which doubles as Lyft’s long-term business partner. The automaker is working to build a network of self-driving cars that will operate within Lyft’s service and shuttle passengers around town without a driver.
In March, Lyft launched its on-demand ride-hailing service in 10 new U.S. Cities, bringing its total expansion to 100 new cities since the beginning of the year. The company, which has expanded its operations by 50% in the past three months, now operates in 300 cities.