Lyft raises $500M in latest round of venture capital funding

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Thursday, March 12, 2015
Lyft
Pink "glowstaches" are displayed on the table at Lyft's San Francisco headquarters on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. (AP)
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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Ride-hailing service Lyft has raised more than half a billion dollars in its latest round of venture capital funding.

That puts the value of the San Francisco-based company at $2.5 billion.

A Japanese online retailer led the latest investment in the company.

Lyft still has a way to go to catch up to its main competitor Uber, which has a valuation of $40 billion.

The figure makes Uber the biggest start-up in the United States.