Documents filed last week reveal that ridesharing service Lyft has started work on a $150 million round of funding, amassing $80 million of it so far from big names including Andreesen Horowitz. Though Uber has unquestionably grabbed the top slot in the burgeoning car dispatch industry, Lyft's pink mustaches — attached to the front of drivers' cars — have grabbed enough attention in many big cities to become well-known. Uber competes directly with Lyft through its UberX service, which employs private drivers with their own cars to effectively serve as cabs at a lower rate.
The round puts Lyft's valuation around $700 million. That pales to Uber's recent $3.5 billion price tag, but the new funding should give Lyft some runway to expand in key markets and grow its reputation as the go-to Uber alternative against competing services like Sidecar and Hailo.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said that Lyft does not have surge pricing, but it does have a system called Prime Time Tips that automatically increases tips to drivers during peak hours. The story has been updated accordingly.