Largely considered Uber’s greatest rival in the United States, ride-hailing company Lyft has seen a huge investment ($247.7 million) led by Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the investment firm of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
The investment gives KHC a 2.3% stake in San Francisco based Lyft. The billionaire prince’s investment firm is a major investor in US tech and other assets, owning 5% of Twitter.
Lyft was launched in 2012 by entrepreneurs Logan Green and John Zimmer, and works as a peer-to-peer ride-hailing app. Currently operating in 65 US cities including San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, the cash injection by Prince Alwaleed is set to help Lyft expand both domestically and internationally.
Despite the efforts of several governments around the world to break up or outright ban ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, their popularity continues to grow and with drivers now undergoing strict screening and background checks, their legitimacy enhances day by day.
Kingdom Holding Company has a market cap of more than $18 billion and has stakes in hotels, media, tech and real estate globally.