Uber's biggest rival has raised new funding and doubled in valuation to $15 billion

Josh Edelson / AP Images for Lyft

• Lyft announced it has raised $600 million in funding, and is now worth $15.1 billion.
• It has more than doubled in valuation since April 2017.
• The funding was led by Fidelity Management, with participation from Senator Investment Group LP.
• Lyft is seen as Uber's biggest rival, although it only operates in the US and Canada.

Ride-hailing firm Lyft announced that it raised $600 million (£459 million) in funding and that its valuation has shot up to $15.1 billion (£11.6 billion).

In April 2017 Lyft was valued at $7.5 billion (£5.7 billion), meaning the company has more or less doubled in value in just over a year.

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The new round was led by Fidelity Management, with participation from Senator Investment Group LP. This comes just six months after Lyft raised $500 million (£383 million) at a $11.5 billion (£8.8 billion) valuation.

The Washington Post reported that Lyft is also considering an IPO, citing anonymous sources. But it's more likely its primary rival Uber would go public first.

Lyft and Uber are increasingly going head-to-head. Recently both companies applied for electric scooter permits in San Francisco, and both are exploring self-driving vehicles as part of their future business models.

Lyft touts itself as a more ethical alternative to Uber, which was beset by scandals through 2017. Uber only recently regained its licence to operate in London, after clashing with Transport for London (TfL) over its trade practices. Meanwhile, Lyft cofounder John Zimmer described his company as "woke" in an interview with Time magazine in 2017.

Still, it has a long way to catch up with Uber, which is much bigger and more international than Lyft. Lyft said it provided passengers with 375.5 million trips in 2017, and had 1.4 million drivers in the US and Toronto. Uber currently states it provided 4 billion trips in 2017 and has 3 million drivers drivers in 65 countries.