Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, waes as he arrives at the headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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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