Ridesharing Unicorn: Lyft
Background
Current Estimated Valuation: Bloomberg said this latest financing could value Lyft between $3.9 billion and $4.5 billion (The Verge)# of Patents Owned: 0*
Competition: Uber + various other competitors in other countries.
*Details
Interestingly, Lyft only has XYZ patents. However, recently General Motors invested in Lyft and decided to buy Sidecar's patents. Essentially, Sidecar had a 2002 patent on ridesharing. This makes it particularity interesting against Uber, which as 34 patents, because General Motors is ready to defend Lyft.What does this particular GM/Sidecar patent cover?
The patent details a system in which a passenger uses a wireless device to request a ride, which is then sent to a server, which finds an appropriate driver.Wired describes it as "In other words, it covers the core of any modern ride sharing service" .
Hence, this presents a major challenge for a company like Uber which is competing directly against Lyft. Moreover, Uber's latest valuation by Bloomberg is $60+ Billion. This is more than 10x that of Lyft, which could present a greater challenge. It would be in Uber's best interest to litigate Lyft or pursue a buyout in order to better monopolize ride sharing.
Sources:
http://www.wired.com/2016/01/gms-newly-acquired-patent-could-be-a-problem-for-uber/
http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/21/10635868/lyft-billions-valuation-uber-rideshare-war
What do you mean by XYZ patents for Lyft? That's really interesting that GM acquired some of Lyft's patents! I didn't realize that was the case. I also like that you went into detail on the specifics of the patents of greatest concern for potential infringement suits later on. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteHi Jaskirat,
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an informative and interesting blog post. However, I think you could've gave a better description of Lyft at the time when it was a Unicorn. I think you meant XYZ patents as 0 or some number, because you weren't able to find any online. Overall, great blog post!
Hi Jaskirat,
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an informative and interesting blog post. However, I think you could've gave a better description of Lyft at the time when it was a Unicorn. I think you meant XYZ patents as 0 or some number, because you weren't able to find any online. Overall, great blog post!