Activist investor Carl Icahn bets $100 million on Lyft, weirdly

In this Oct. 11, 2007 file photo, private equity investor Carl Icahn speaks at the World Business Forum in New York.

Uber may have raised around $5 billion in financing, but now Lyft has countered with...Carl Icahn?
Icahn, the famed activist investor who has pressed for change at tech giants like Apple, Netflix and eBay, has invested $100 million in Lyft, marking a rare investment in a private company — and one that is vastly out-funded, and some would say outmatched, by competing ride-hailing app Uber.
In a statement, Icahn touted Lyft's promising "revenue growth" and the quality of its leadership team. "I believe that ridesharing is poised to become a fundamental component of our transportation infrastructure," Icahn said. "I believe they are well-suited to take advantage of this opportunity and to make Lyft an extremely successful company.”
An Icahn investment in a business is often viewed as a headache or a harbinger of drama to come. Here, it is represented as a positive.
"Carl Icahn’s record as an investor is unparalleled," said John Zimmer, cofounder and president of Lyft, in a statement that should make Icahn grin. "His recent success investing in the technology sector stems from a focus on companies that deliver incredible long-term value to their customers."
A rep for Lyft told Mashable that the company was introduced to Icahn through another investor.
Lyft announced Friday that it had raised a total of $150 million in financing, the bulk of which is from Icahn Enterprises. The financing is said to be part of the same funding round from earlier this year, which valued Lyft at $2.5 billion.
Uber, by comparison, is reportedly looking to raise yet another round of funding at a $50 billion valuation. Travis Kalanick, Uber's CEO, is also on record as saying he has tried to kneecap Lyft's funding efforts in the past.
Perhaps Icahn thinks there is room for more than one large business in the car hailing market, or he assumes Lyft could be an acquisition target one day. Or it might just be that he feels he's getting a good deal: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, described Lyft's valuation as "a tremendous bargain" compared to Uber.
One interesting byproduct of the investment for industry watchers: Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist who frequently clashes with Icahn, is also an investor in Lyft. Icahn once quipped that Andreessen had "screwed more people than Casanova" while on the board at eBay. Andreessen called Icahn "evil Captain Kirk."