Carl Icahn Invests $100 Million in Ride-Sharing Service Lyft Icahn joins a long list of backers for the three-year old startup.
By Reuters
This story originally appeared on Reuters
Ride-sharing company Lyft Inc said it raised $150 million, led by a $100 million investment from activist investor Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises LP.
Icahn joins a long list of backers for the three-year old startup, including Andreessen Horowitz, New York-based technology hedge-fund Coatue Management, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and hedge fund Third Point Management.
One of Icahn's managing directors, Jonathan Christodoro, will join Lyft's board, Lyft said in a statement on Friday.
Lyft, known for cars sporting fluffy pink moustaches, uses a smartphone app to match riders with paid drivers who use their own cars rather than livery vehicles.
The San Francisco-based company had raised $530 million in a funding round led by Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc in March.
That funding round had valued Lyft at about $2.5 billion, which is much less than Uber Technologies Inc's roughly $40 billion valuation.
(Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
