Uber's Travis Kalanick admits derailing rival Lyft's May fundraiser
Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick has admitted he lobbied fundraisers to snub ride-summoning app rival Lyft during its May fundraiser.
Travis Kalanick, Uber CEO
The revelation comes as the taxi-hailing app fights for a superior share of the travel market against rival Lyft, which adorns its vehicles with a pink mustache, and traditional taxi services.
Kalanick told Vanity Fair: “We knew that Lyft was going to raise a ton of money and we were going [to their investors], ‘Just so you know, we’re going to be fundraising after this, so before you decide whether you want to invest in them, just make sure you know that we are going to be fund-raising immediately after.’”
Possibly as a result of his intervention, Lyft in May only managed to raise $250m, whereas Uber took in over $1bn in June.
Kalanick’s firm has come under fire for undercutting cabbies - he however alleged that he is at war with an "asshole named taxi". On the app’s attack on taxi services across the world, Uber, co-founder Garrett Camp simply said: “It’s hard to be a disrupter and not be an asshole.”
The firm was valued at over $10bn in August alongside Snapchat and AirBnB.