If investing $500 million into Lyft to start the New Year wasn't enough of an indication of how serious General Motors is about being a major player in the ride-sharing space, the automaker plumped up its portfolio with a shrewd acquisition in the same sector.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that GM acquired the recently-shuttered Sidecar ride-sharing service for less than $39 million. As part of the acquisition, Sidecar's 20 employees will join GM, including the company's co-founder and chief technology officer, Jahan Khanna, but not his fellow co-founder Sunil Paul.
The news comes three weeks after Sidecar announced it's shutting down, unable to compete with Lyft and Uber in the market.
According to Bloomberg, GM bought Sidecar for the startup's parts, technology and assets, putting GM in position to seemingly deliver a damaging blow to Uber in the ride-sharing market.
A source additionally tells the news agency that GM is developing its own transportation service named Maven, which could allow GM vehicles' owners to give rides to other passengers who are commuting towards the same destinations.
Bloomberg's report even revealed that part of GM's trademark filing for the Maven name this past November read: "Application software for connecting vehicle drivers and passengers and for coordinating transportation services; software for use in planning, monitoring and controlling urban transportation."
