Lyft confirms the acquisition of Motivate, a shared bicycle company

A month ago there was a report that Lyft was thinking of buying the shared bike company Motivate. This Monday, he confirmed it.

Motivate, the largest company of its kind in North America, will now be part of the on-demand motorist company, Lyft said in a blog post. With this acquisition, Lyft adds, they will be able to extend the offer of shared bicycles to other markets not only to provide additional transportation options to more people, but also to help protect the environment.

"Lyft and Motivate have been engaging for years with the same goal of reducing the need to buy a personal car by providing reliable and affordable ways to get around our cities," said John Zimmer , co-founder and president of Lyft. "Combining Lyft and Motivate will accelerate our collaboration with different cities to provide better experiences for all our passengers."

All details of the agreement have not been shared. The information reported that the transaction would be valued at $ 250 million.

What we do know is that the purchase includes the Motivate contracts in effect in the cities where it operates, such as in New York (with Citi Bike), San Francisco (with Ford GoBike), Chicago (Divvy), Boston (Blue Bikes), Washington DC (Capital Bikeshare) and Portland (BIKETOWN); in Columbus, Ohio (CoGo) and Minneapolis (Nice Ride). Lyft also acquires all the functions of the company and all its technology. The bike maintenance company will remain independent and will use the name Motivate.

With this acquisition, Lyft enters firmly into the shared bike business as its great rival Uber, who in early April finalized its takeover of the start-up Jump for $ 200 million, according to Crain's New York. The two companies are competing with others startups such as LimeBike, Spin, Mobike and Ofo.

Recently, Lyft, a private start-up announced that it had received a venture capital investment that added $ 600 million. Lyft now has a value of 15,100 million US dollars.