Uber's archrival in the United States Lyft discloses that it is currently on track of hitting $1 billion in annual gross revenue.
John Zimmer, the ridesharing service's president and cofounder, broke the news that the company is aiming toward $1 billion in gross revenue by November next year during his presentation at the Connected Car Expo in Los Angeles.
Zimmer further revealed a few more substantial figures, implying the company is moving a little more forward, including Lyft's 45 percent market share in Austin and 40 percent market share in San Francisco Bay Area. Within the last four months, Lyft also managed to triple its market share in New York.
However, in a bid to entice more customers into its service, Lyft has recently commenced an aggressive discount program to take on its powerful rival Uber. In New York, for instance, its Lyft Line service started off offering $5 rides. In Los Angeles, Lyft is giving half-price rides to lure new riders to try its app. Moreover, Zimmer stated that 20 percent of the company's rides start and end at mass transit stops.
According to Logan Green, Lyft's cofounder and chief executive, quite a few riders in San Francisco and New York avail the Lyft Line Service. This feature brings many passengers together to share a car.
Meanwhile, the company's financial documents revealed that its net income way back 2014 was estimated at $130 million.
"It demonstrates what a large business opportunity this is," said Zimmer to Reuters. "The market that we are playing in is ... a $2.25 trillion transportation industry."
In September, the company teamed up with Didi Kuaidi of China, which could bring its name to a market outside the United States for the very first time.
As a point of comparison, the gross bookings of Uber are anticipated to go up to $10.84 billion within the year and $26.12 billion in the coming year. This translates to Uber's whopping $2 billion net revenue for 2015.
This comes hot on the heels of a New York Times report saying Lyft is also looking to raise $500 million in a new funding round that might leave it valued at about $4 billion.
To date, Uber is already available in over 300 cities in 65 nations. Lyft, however, is only limited to under 200 cities within the U.S. and has no global presence at the moment.
