image credit : Motivate

Major ride-hailing company Lyft which dominates a huge part of the U.S. ride-hailing market and notable just closed a $600 million funding round at a huge $15.2 Billion valuation has now acquired New York based full-service bike share operator Motivate in a deal which will now see the company integrate Motivate’s services into its newly formed “Lyft Bikes” platform which will now see Lyft take on Motivate’s exisiting bike sharing contracts with several companies which sees Motivate operate several bike-sharing programs such as Ford GoBike, Divvy, Capital Bikeshare, Biketown, Citi Bike and several other bike sharing programs which gives it a current stand of being the largest bike-sharing operator in the U.S.

Although the terms of this acquisition has not been disclosed, Previous reports pegged the acquisition price at a speculated $250 million which represents a very huge deal and the biggest acquisition by Lyft if the acquisition cost comes in this price range.

With so many new startups popping up in the bike and e-scooter sharing space which has seen recent waves of investment and huge growth, Major ride-hailing player Lyft along with Uber are now increasing efforts to get into this disruptive transportation space which has been growing in recent times.

During the time Lyft began talks to acquire Motivate, Uber was also reportedly in talks to acquire the company to fuel its expansion in the transportation service sector as Motivate represents a very prized asset for its buyer Lyft due to its huge network of partnerships with several companies and cities which have led to huge adaptation of its services.

In what represents Lyft’s 9th acquisition since its start, We would now get to see how the company would integrate Motivate’s services into its “Lyft Bikes” platform which is earmarked to “revolutionize urban transportation and put bikeshare systems across the country on a path toward growth and innovation.”

In an issued statement concerning this acquisition, Lyft’s co-founder and president John Zimmer can be quoted as saying “Lyft and Motivate have both been committed for years to the same goal of reducing the need for personal car ownership by providing reliable and affordable ways to move around our cities,” He continued “Bringing together Lyft and Motivate will accelerate our collaboration with cities and deliver even better experiences to our passengers and riders.”

The ride-hailing industry has been an extremely competitive one since the huge success of Uber which started 2009 and also saw other major players including Lyft which started 3 years later.

With very huge growth between them, Lyft is notable for having raised a total of $4.9 Billion on the private market whilst major competitor Uber has raised above $10 Billion on the private market for its operations.

Both companies make up a very huge part of the U.S. ride-hailing market boasting valuations of $15.1 Billion for Lyft and a huge $68 Billion for Uber.

In the transportation services market, Another major player which has pooped up recently is e-scooter sharing startup which was also founded by an ex Uber and Lyft executive and has grown to a huge $2 Billion Valuation in just a year after raising $300 million recently.

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