Riyadh: Kingdom Holding said on Thursday it had led a group that invested around $248 million (Dh910.16 million) in US ridesharing service company Lyft.
Kingdom Holding Co, which is 95 per cent-owned by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, invested $104.9 million in the San Francisco-based start-up, it said in a statement.
The investment is equivalent to a 2.3 per cent stake.
Kingdom Holding invested $31 million in a capital increase and spent $73.9 million to acquire preferred shares from other investors, it said.
The statement did not identify the co-investors.
Lyft announced an expansion of its alliances with Asian partners earlier this month, increasing its challenge to rival Uber.
Lyft is valued at $2.5 billion, while Uber has become one of the world’s most valuable start-ups, worth an estimated $50 billion.
Kingdom Holding’s diversified interests range from the Euro Disney theme park and Four Seasons hotels to News Corporation and Citigroup.
The Saudi tycoon and his firm also became Twitter’s second-largest shareholders in October.
