The Companies That Are Funding Uber and Lyft

Uber and Lyft are the two big ridesharing companies in the United States. Both receive additional capital funding as they continue to grow. Activist Carl Icahn threw his considerable weight behind Lyft with a $100 million investment in May 2015. He called it “a bargain” and acquired a seat on the board.

Lyft is still in second place behind Uber in the ridesharing business, rebounding more slowly from the pandemic. Uber’s rideshare sales were up 10% year-to-year in March 2024 compared to 3% for Lyft. That hasn’t stopped venture capitalists and other investment entities from throwing money at both companies, however.

Key Takeaways

• Uber and Lyft are the two biggest ridesharing companies in the United States but Uber claims first place.
• Google Ventures plunged over $250 million into Uber in August 2015.
• Lyft raised over $500 million in funding in early 2015.
• Lyft reported a year-end operating loss of $475.6 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2023 compared to Uber’s $1.11 billion in income from operations for the same period.

Uber’s Early Investors

Uber was founded in 2009 with a killer app concept: An individual could hail a car ride with a smartphone rather than a wave of a hand. The concept caught on with the Silicon Valley venture capital crowd. The company’s valuation increased by $10 billion within seven months by the summer of 2015.

There was an almost insatiable appetite to buy into Uber and its leadership in the car-hailing business in its early days. Google Ventures plunged over $250 million into Uber in August 2015.

The company’s biggest investors also included blue-chip Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Fidelity Investments, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Lone Pine Capital, and dozens of other venture capital firms, hedge funds and private billionaires. Traditional Wall Street wasn’t left at the curb either.

The thinking among Uber financial supporters was that a tidal wave of cash would drown any rival and allow the realization of the ultimate goal: a monstrously successful initial public offering (IPO) valued at $70 billion or more. Shares instead dropped 7.6% at the close of its first day of trading in May 2019.

Lyft’s Big Money Investors

Lyft is clearly the smaller of the two companies. It was operating in more than 800 cities in the United States and Canada as of December 2024. Uber covers more than 10,000 cities worldwide.

Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, had a fractious history of public feuds with Icahn but he nonetheless poured $60 million into Lyft through his firm Andreessen Horowitz LLC. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was a major investor in Andreessen’s firm. Bloomberg promised to destroy the yellow cab business in New York City.

Important

Lyft also raised over $500 million in funding led by a Japanese online retailer in early 2015.

Invested Money, Big Losses

Plenty of capital has been provided to both Uber and Lyft in this ridesharing war but they’ve had their share of operating losses as well.

The companies were close to being neck-and-neck in 2022 as the Covid-19 pandemic began moving behind them. Uber reported a $1.832 billion operating loss for the year ending Dec. 31, 2022. Lyft’s operating loss was $1,458 billion for the same period.

Then came 2023. Lyft reported a year-end operating loss of $475.6 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2023 compared to Uber’s $1.11 billion in income from operations for the same period.

What Is the Silicon Valley Venture Capital Crowd?

The “crowd” is a group of venture capital firms and tech companies headquartered in Silicon Valley, California and there are a number of them. Their primary mission is to provide funding and support to startups in the region.

What Are Some Other Major Rideshare Companies?

Uber and Lyft control the industry but there are other major companies as well. The biggest of them operate outside the United States, however. They include Gojek Tech in Indonesia which reported 2024 annual revenue of $46.074 billion in U.S. dollars.

Who Is Uber’s Biggest Institutional Investor?

China Universal Asset Management Company Ltd. held more than 79,000 shares valued at $4.78 million as of Jan. 24, 2025. Institutions owned 80.24% of Uber shares as of this date.

The Bottom Line

The capital markets continue to be bountiful for companies such as Uber and Lyft but conditions can change overnight if markets hit a speed bump. This can limit or delay growth for the ridesharing business as venture capitalists and Wall Street hit the road.