Lyft Said to Raise $500 Million in New Round of Funding

(Bloomberg) -- Lyft Inc. has raised about $500 million in a new round of funding that will value the ride-sharing company at $7.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the investment.

The funding round isn't concluded and could expand further, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the investments haven't been announced publicly. The funding was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

The San Francisco startup has been focused on its fight in U.S. cities with larger rival Uber Technologies Inc. Bloomberg News reported in March that Lyft was in talks with investors to raise more than $500 million at a valuation of as much as $7 billion. Lyft is determined to roll out service to 100 cities in the U.S., seeking to capitalize on a wave of bad publicity and controversy at Uber.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Molly Schuetz