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John Zimmer, an analyst at Lehman Brothers had already been arranging shared trips between Cornell University in upstate New York and New York City during his college years. He then sees post on Facebook about Zimride (company started by Logan Green to offer long-distance ride-sharing between colleges) and connects with him through a mutual friend.

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The company transitioned into Lyft. Lyft launches in San Francisco, but not as a standalone company. At first, Zimride focused on ride-sharing for long-distance trips. But in 2012, Zimmer and Green introduced Lyft as a service of Zimride. It offered ridesharing for much shorter trips. The company becomes instantly recognizable because Lyft drivers have large, fuzzy pink mustaches on the front of their vehicles.

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Lyft raises $15 million in funding during a Series B round that was led by the Founders Fund. The company can now expand service to Los Angeles. Shortly after this, in May of 2013 it raises $60 million in its Series C venture financing round, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz.

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Since Zimmer and Green have now officially taken on Lyft they sell what is left to Enterprise. Lyft sells its Zimride private carpool business to the parent company of Enterprise, which is called Rent-A-Car. This allows Zimmer and Green to focus solely on the growth of Lyft.

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Lyft raises another $530 million, this time from Japanese online retailer, Rakuten Inc. The investment now values the company at $2.5 billion. Becasue of this large investment Lyft is now able to secure their announcement of Lyft Carpool. This lets Lyft go back to its Zimride roots by allowing passengers to carpool outside of city limits.

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Lyft partners with Starbucks on the coffee company’s rewards program. Lyft drivers have the option of becoming Gold members in the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program. Lyft passengers earn points in the rewards program with each ride.

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From 2018 to today Lyft is located in 40 states. Lyft now also owns Motivate, the largest bikeshare operator in the United States. As well as a scooter-sharing system in Denver, Colorado.