THE NEWS WRAP: Lyft spending heavily as growth slows

Lyft is pouring money into customer acquisition, as it battles to maintain second place in the ride-sharing industry, according to a leaked presentation obtained by Bloomberg Business.

The presentation, compiled for Lyft’s $US530 million fundraising round in March, shows paid dividends, with a fourfold increase in active passengers on 2.2 million rides in December 2014.

Lyft spends an estimated $530 on marketing to each driver and 22 passengers in San Francisco and it takes about nine months to recoup those costs through its Lyft Classic service. The company expects to spend 60.5% of its revenue on marketing in December 2015. 

The startup expects $US796 million in revenue for 2015, a slowdown in growth, but still a 512% jump from 2014.

Circle raises $50 million

Bitcoin startup Circle has closed a $US50 million funding round, led by Goldman Sachs Group, which values the company at $US200 million, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Circle is a bitcoin wallet service that allows users to store, send and receive bitcoin from merchants and other users.

The new funding takes the startup’s total funding raised to around $US75 million.

Mobile news app Circa seeks buyer

Circa, a mobile app for personalised news, was unable to raise new venture capital funding and is now looking to be acquired.

The startup raised more than $US5 million in funding to date. Co-founder and CEO Matt Galligan says Circa struggled to find new investors because of the startups mobile focus, which was not generating millions of pageviews.

Overnight

 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 195.01 to 17,840.52. The Australian Dollar is currently trading at US79 cents.