Lyft just raised another $530 million in funding

Ride-sharing apps are becoming ridiculously popular nowadays and Lyft is no exception. Despite having never expanded outside of the United States, Lyft is still one of Uber’s biggest competitors, with Uber being the undisputed industry leader. However, Lyft needs to expand outside of America if it wants to continue being successful and it has raised $530 million in funding, led by Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten, to help with that expansion. 

Today, we’re announcing a major step forward in our mission to reconnect people and communities through better transportation. With an additional $530 million in funding, led by Rakuten, we will accelerate more quickly toward a world where every seat is filled and every driver and passenger is empowered to join together in improving our economy, environment and local communities. Imagine a world where traffic disappears. Where your normal commute turns into extra income. Where we not only get from A to B safely, affordably and conveniently, but we enjoy the ride and make new friends along the way. This is no longer just part of our imagination – this vision is quickly becoming reality. What some forget is that just two and a half years ago, Lyft was an experiment. An experiment that challenged the transportation status quo and tapped into the core of humanity. Would people share rides with people they didn’t know in their personal vehicles? Would governments be open to rapid transportation innovation? Would a company based on the principles of a community-led movement scale to millions of people?