Term Sheet — Tuesday, July 3

MOTIVATED

Good morning, Term Sheet readers.

Here we go — Lyft has followed Uber into the bike-sharing wars. Both companies are attempting to diversify the kinds of transportation services they offer, and what better way to do so than to acquire smaller players?

Lyft bought the core operations of Motivate, the parent company of CitiBike in New York and FordGo Bike in San Francisco. The business, which will be renamed Lyft Bikes, will continue to operate independently. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it was previously reported that the price tag for Motivate was at least $250 million.

The move comes on the heels of Lyft’s massive $600 million fundraise, which values the company at at $15.1 billion post-money. The acquisition better positions Lyft to compete head on with Uber and its dockless e-bike service Jump Bikes as Motivate is currently the largest provider of bike-sharing services in the United States.

Car alternatives, such as electric bikes and scooters, have had explosive popularity in Europe and China. In China, for instance, there were more bike-share rides between 2013 and 2017 than there were rideshare rides in the U.S. During the same period. So rather than compete with some of these well-funded dockless bike and scooter market entrants, Uber and Lyft are scooping them up.

The questions still loom — who will control the new wave of dockless bike-sharing? Will we see a consolidation of the entire industry where Uber and Lyft purchase an electric scooter company next?

The thing to note here is that this is a pivotal point in the evolution of ride-hailing companies. The Uber/Jump and Lyft/Motivate pairings show that the tech behemoths are committed to becoming urban mobility companies rather than just taxi alternatives.

SECOND ACT: Remember Anthony Levandowski? The former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur who was at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo has made a comeback. According to TechCrunch, Levandowski has returned with an autonomous trucking company called Kache.ai that is still in stealth mode. Read more.

CHANGE THE WORLD: We are taking nominations for Coins2Day’s 4th annual Change the World list—which highlights companies that do well by doing good—addressing pressing social problems as part of their core profit-making activity. To learn more about the list, and to nominate your company or a company you admire, visit our Change The World information page.

HOUSEKEEPING: As a reminder, Term Sheet won't be in your inbox tomorrow because of the Fourth of July holiday. Have a great day, and see you on Thursday!

THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...

• Facebook Is Killing Off an Anonymous Social App (by David Meyer)

• Walmart Adds Chief Customer Officer Role to Further Integrate Stores and E-Commerce (by Phil Wahba)

• Blockchain Voting Notches Another Success—This Time in Switzerland (by David Meyer)

• Tesla Could Turn a Profit This Quarter, Some Analysts Say (by Kevin Kelleher)

VENTURE DEALS

• Trax, a Singapore-based provider of computer vision and analytics solutions for retail, raised $125 million in funding. Boyu Capital led the round.

• Harper Wilde, a Los Angeles-based provider of online shopping for everyday bras, raised $2 million in seed funding. CRV led the round.

• Airwallex, a fintech startup focused on international payments for SMEs and businesses, raised $80 million in Series B funding. Tencent and Sequoia China co-led the round, and were joined by investors including Hillhouse, Horizons Ventures, Central Capital Ventura (BCA) and Australia’s Square Peg.

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

• Salveo Capital acquired a minority stake in Flow Kana, a San Francisco-based cannabis provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Federated Investors Inc acquired a majority stake in Hermes Fund Managers Limited, a London-based provider of investment management and stewardship services, for 246 million pounds ($322 million).

• Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC acquired a majority stake in Mustang Energy Services, a Texas-based containment solutions company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• The Riverside Company agreed to invest in Winxnet Inc, a Portland, Maine-based IT consulting and outsourcing firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Also, Winxnet and K&R Network Solutions have merged to form a managed IT services company.

• Consolo Services Group, which is backed by Bluff Point Associates, acquired ADS Data Systems, an SaaS provider of adult day care software and services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Ardian acquired a minority stake in MKD, a Spain-based online platform that offers maintenance supervision and repair services for the fleet management sector. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Sole Source Capital acquired a majority stake in Trade Supplies, a Los Angeles-based provider of non-perishable food service disposable items, dry-grocery items, packaging solutions and janitorial supplies. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Platinum Equity acquired PLI Card Marketing Solutions, a manufacturer of specialty print products. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Centerbridge Partners is exploring a possible sale of P.F. Chang’s, a Chinese restaurant chain, according to CNBC. Read more.

OTHER DEALS

• Nestlé SA will buy Champion Petfoods, a producer and marketer of pet food, for more than $2 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sellers include Bedford Capital. Read more.

EXITS

• EQT will acquire SUSE, a provider of open source infrastructure software for large enterprises, from Micro Focus. The value of the transaction is $2.5 billion.

• KKR acquired Hyperion, a maker of industrial tool components. The seller was Sandvik. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Mood Media acquired focus4media, a provider of music, audio advertising, sound, video, scent, and security solutions for enterprises, from Driehaus Private Equity.

FIRMS + FUNDS

• Thoma Bravo, a Chicago-based private equity firm, is seeking $11.5 billion for its latest flagship, according to The Wall Street Journal. The $11.5 billion is up from the $10 billion the PE firm told investors it was targeting for Thoma Bravo Fund XIII LP.