

After operating exclusively in the U.S. for the first five years of its existence, Lyft Inc. looks to launch an international expansion.
The ride-hailing startup announced in a blog post today that it will start serving passengers in Toronto next month. Now that it has taken the long-delayed initial step into the international market, Lyft will likely continue expanding to other cities in Canada and beyond. The company certainly doesn’t lack the resources to do so, having recently raised a massive $1 billion funding round led by Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG investing arm.
One likely expansion target for Lyft after Toronto is London. It was revealed in September that the company has secretly held several “high-level talks” with municipal officials from the city. The conditions are ripe for Lyft to move into the English capital, given that Uber Technologies Inc. was recently banned by the local transit authority.
Lyft is rapidly gaining on its larger competitor. According to an investor document leaked over the weekend, the company is set to to take about a third of the U.S. ride-hailing market by the end of the year.
But Lyft still has a long way to go before catching up with Uber. The latter company has served more than 5 billion rides so far in 560 cities, while Lyft only passed the 500 million-ride mark last month. Still, the leaked investor document shows that its revenues are growing at a faster rate than Uber’s.
A global expansion will be essential for the company to have a chance at closing the gap at the market level as well. The damage that Uber’s public image has suffered over recent quarters as a result of its numerous internal controversies certainly presents a big opportunity for Lyft. However, the eye-watering $10 billion funding round that Uber closed on Sunday means that Lyft can expect increased competition in key markets.
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