CapitalG, the growth investment fund of Google parent company Alphabet, is leading a $1 billion financing round in Lyft, an announcement that confirmed rumors last month that the search engine giant was in talks with the ride-hailing company.
Google was an early investor in ride-hailing rival Uber, a company now being sued by Alphabet entity Waymo. But it’s never put money into Lyft. Neither company would name other investors in the round.
The investment puts Lyft’s post-money valuation at $11 billion. CapitalG partner David Lawee is joining Lyft’s board. CapitalG began in 2013 as Google Capital. The growth equity investment fund changed its name in 2016 following Google’s creation of parent company Alphabet.
“CapitalG is honored to work with Lyft’s compelling founders and strong leadership team,” Lawee said in a statement emailed to Coins2Day. “Ridesharing is still in its early days and we look forward to seeing Lyft continue its impressive growth.”
The $1 billion financing round will be used to continue Lyft’s expansion plans.
Lyft has spent 2017 in partner-and-expansion mode. The company has expanded its operations in the United States by more than 50% in the past nine months, taking advantage of problems at rival company Uber to capture new market share. It’s also preparing to move into Canada.
Lyft has also formed a number of partnerships with automakers and tech companies developing self-driving car systems, including Google’s Waymo, General Motors, startups NuTonomy and Drive.ai.
Despite this growth, Lyft and its new investor see room to capture more market share.
“Less than 0.5% of miles traveled in the U.S. Happen on rideshare networks,” Lyft said in a blog post Thursday. “This creates a huge opportunity to best serve our cities’ economic, environmental, and social futures.”
Lyft closed a $600 million Series G round in May that included famed private equity firm KKR, AllianceBernstein, Baillie Gifford, and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board as investors.