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Here is my quick two-cents. The current demand for this kind of service is far greater than the supply. UberX is Lyft's closest competitor because these are personal cars. I use UberX almost everyday. During the daily peak hour periods, UberX charges 2-3x than the normal UberX rate, sometimes UberX charges more than the Uber black cars. In that case, I switch to Lyft. However, at the same time, there aren’t so many Lyft drivers also to match the demand.

We believe the market is larger than Uber because of the social networking effect, and hence the growth rate could be bigger. Lyft is not targeting professional drivers like Uber, but it is more about a community sharing rides. It might not work on every cosmopolitan city (because not everyone in business suit wants to do fist-pumps), but it works well on every town where there is a strong sense of community that it wants to utilize their resources, which is most of the world. They don’t need our money, but need our help on the regulatory front from local to state to federal level.

Their Facebook angle is not to be discounted because this is how Lyft differentiate from Uber. They are addressing two different communities. Lyft is an awesome Facebook app that generates exponential growth in revenue. Considering Facebook is a platform, the apps are where they will find their next generation growth.

We will be working on the deal memo with detail due-diligence material. But because of the timing issue, we have to move very fast (not to cut corners of course).

Best,
-Will

On Feb 28, 2014, at 4:34 PM, John DeLoche <john@rstp.com> wrote:

> Guys,
>
> Just got off the phone with Lyft. Coatue, Andreesen Horowitz and Mayfied have committed $100mm of the $150mm round. There will be a first closing next week. Coatue priced it at $700 pre.
>
> We can get an allocation of up to $25mm. Will and I think this can be a larger public company than Homeaway or Airbnb because this is a daily consumer purchase vs a vacation-driven one. This could also be the future of commuting. It is also a facebook integrated app--every user has to have a FB account, which is one of the reasons for the viral growth due to network effects. It is not out of the question to think that FB may buy them to add a significant revenue stream and diversify their revenue base. I could see every college graduate in America who does not have another job being a Lyft driver as a career right of passage.
>
> I think a 3x plus is possible at this growth profile. On the merits I think we will make money. I also think this is a marquee deal that would generate a ton of LP interest and help us get to our $250mm goal.
>
> IF we decide to go big here I want to make sure we are all on board and go to the mat to raise whatever we think we can raise for this deal. It would have to be on all of our front burners.
>
> Please let me know your thoughts.
>
> Best,
>
> John
>
>
>
>
> John DeLoche
> Managing Director
> Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners
> 333 Bush Street, 21st Floor
> San Francisco, CA 94104
> office: 415 767 1288
> mobile: 415 793 7070
>
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