Lyft looks to raise $500M as Uber stumbles

SAN FRANCISCO — Lyft is raising more money just as rival Uber grapples with a series of scandals.

The second-place ride-hailing company, which operates only in the U.S., is looking to raise around $500 million, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Lyft had been seeking $500 million to $1 billion but after strong early 2017 financials decided to cap the round at $500 million, the person said.

A Lyft spokesperson, Alexandra LaManna, declined to comment.

A $500 million raise would value the company at between $6 and $7 billion. Uber is currently valued at nearly $70 billion, and remains the dominate player in the space.

To date, Lyft has raised $2 billion, according to Crunchbase. Past investors include Alibaba and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. In December 2015, General Motors bet $1 billion on Lyft.

Lyft recently added 54 cities to its map for a total of 300 cities. Lyft president John Zimmer has said that his goal is to become the top ride-sharing company in the U.S., ceding other markets to globally-inclined Uber.

"We'll ultimately win" domestically, Zimmer told USA TODAY in an interview last fall.

Uber, which started as a way to order black town cars and expanded into a broader market, has been hit with bad news on multiple fronts of late.

Last month, the company reacted slowly to President Trump's immigration ban and continued operating while New York-area taxis stopped in protest of the ban. The result was a grassroots #DeleteUber campaign that saw 200,000 people take the app off their phones.

CEO Travis Kalanick then responded to criticism about his connection to an advisory council assembled by President Trump by dropping out of the group.

A few weeks ago, Uber was rocked by a blog post written by a former employee charging that her experience working at the ride hailing company was fraught with sexism.

The response trigged by Susan Fowler's post has included an internal investigation into her charges against various employees as well as a deep dive into the company's testosterone-driven culture at large. Kalanick held a series of meetings with employees, vowing to clean up his act as well as the company's internal workings.

Then Tuesday, an Uber driver's dashcam video surfaced showing Kalanick angrily berating the driver.

That incident resulted in a staff-wide apology in which Kalanick said he needed to "grow up" and was seeking "leadership help."

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