Months after Google’s parent Alphabet announced a partnership between its self-driving car unit Waymo and ride-hailing firm Lyft, the tech major is now in talks with Lyft for a possible investment in the ride-hailing company, according to a report by Reuters.
While the exact quantum of investment is not known yet, a Bloomberg report suggests that discussions are on for a $1 billion deal.
For Uber’s biggest rival globally, investment from Google will be a major boost as both battle for market share. Lyft too, has been expanding operations in US and as per the Reuters report, it announced in August that it is now available in 40 states across the US covering 94% of the country’s population.
An investment from Alphabet further strengthens the relationship between the two which started in May when they partnered to develop self-driving technology.
Interestingly, Alphabet is engaged in a court battle with Lyft’s rival Uber after it accused an employee of the ride hailing firm for alleged theft of trade secrets with respect to Waymo when he was working with Alphabet.
In fact, Alphabet also invested in Uber and has been an investor since 2013 through its venture capital arm GV.
Lyft last raised funds in April when large global investment funds invested $600 million in the company, valuing Lyft at $7.5 billion. This is up from $5.5 billion valuation it last stood at from the previous round of funding last year.
The Reuters report further states that this investment from Alphabet might delay Lyft’s IPO plans, which was likely to happen in 2018 and because of which, Lyft planned not to raise any additional funds.