Israeli cab hailing app raises $150 million to take on Uber and Lyft

While Uber and Lyft were busy with their pissing match this week, another taxi startup just announced a new mega funding round. GetTaxi, an Israel-based taxi startup, announced Wednesday that it has raised $25 million of a larger $150 million Series D round of funding that it expects to close by the end of this year. Once closed, that will bring GetTaxi’s total funding to more than $200 million. The company’s plan is to use the additional funding to help fuel its expansion in cities throughout Europe and to launch an ride option for businesses in New York. It already serves consumers in New York, under the name Gett. “While most other companies in our space are losing money, GetTaxi is already profitable in 22 out of the 24 cities we operate in and will become profitable at the group level in early 2015,” Shahar Waiser, founder and CEO of GetTaxi, said in a statement. The taxi startup race has sped up in recent months with a number of new entrants raising significant funding rounds to capture key markets.