Saudi prince invests in US ridesharing service Lyft

A firm owned by a Saudi prince said today it had led a group that invested around USD 248 million (226 million euros) in US ridesharing service company Lyft.
Kingdom Holding Co, which is 95 per cent-owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, invested USD 104.9 million in the San Francisco-based startup, it said in a statement.
The investment is equivalent to a 2.3 per cent stake.
Kingdom Holding invested USD 31 million in a capital increase and spent USD 73.9 million to acquire preferred shares from other investors, it said.
The statement did not identify the co-investors.
Lyft announced an expansion of its alliances with Asian partners earlier this month, increasing its challenge to rival Uber.

Lyft is valued at USD 2.5 billion, while Uber has become one of the world's most valuable startups, worth an estimated USD 50 billion.
Kingdom Holding's diversified interests range from the Euro Disney theme park and Four Seasons hotels to News Corporation and Citigroup.
The Saudi tycoon and his firm also became Twitter's second-largest shareholders in October.