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A Saudi prince is buying a piece of Lyft for $105 million

Bryan Logan   

A Saudi prince is buying a piece of Lyft for $105 million
Tech2 min read

John Zimmer

John Sciulli/Getty Images for Lyft

Lyft Co-founder, John Zimmer attends the Lyft driver rally at Siren Studios on January 27, 2015 in Hollywood, California.

Lyft is getting a nearly $105 million investment from a Saudi prince, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The cash infusion comes from Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, via his Kingdom Holding Company. The investment will give the group a 2.3% stake in Lyft.

The cash, according to The Journal, is part of a larger fundraise totaling more than $247 million for 5.3% of the ridesharing company.

Lyft is Uber's closest ridesharing rival in the US, but the two services could not be further apart in their respective valuations.

Uber weighs in at a $64.6 billion valuation, based on its latest round of funding, while Lyft lands at an estimated $4.9 billion valuation after the new investments that were announced Thursday.

Despite the foreign investments, Lyft will continue operating in the US exclusively - unlike Uber, which operates in 68 countries. Lyft has made moves recently to expand overseas, without having to leave its San Francisco headquarters.

Lyft

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

In this Jan. 4, 2013 file photo, Lyft passenger Christina Shatzen gets into a car driven by Nancy Tcheou, in San Francisco.

In September, Lyft partnered with Uber's biggest rival in China, Didi Kuaidi. The two companies are expanding their alliance with other Asian ridesharing services - including Singapore's GrabTaxi and Ola in India.

Didi Kuaidi invested $100 million in Lyft's Series E round. Lyft's John Zimmer said during the companies' September press conference that the partnership will go into effect early next year.

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