By June 2016, drivers using the Lyft on-demand ride-hailing app had earned $100 million in tips—a milestone that had taken four years from the company’s founding to achieve.
It took just another nine months for Lyft drivers to collect another $100 million, an illustration of the startup’s growth in the past year.
Lyft said in a blog post Wednesday that Lyft drivers have netted $200 million in tips since 2012. A spokesperson confirmed $100 million in tips was earned from June 2016 to March 2017.
There are 315,000 drivers on the Lyft platform, according to the company.
Unlike rival Uber, Lyft has always provided a tipping feature in its app that lets riders give a gratuity before confirming their payment.
Lyft, which is now available in 300 cities, has expanded its operations by 50% in the past three months. The company had a goal of expanding to 100 cities by the end of the year; it reached that number by March.
Lyft kicked off the year by rolling out its service to 40 cities in January. A month later it followed expanded to 54 more cities. The 54-city launch included expansions into Iowa, Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin.
The startup’s aggressive expansion comes as reports swirl that it’s pitching investors on a new funding round with hopes to net at least $500 million, according to a Reuters report earlier this month. If funded, Lyft would be valued between $6 billion and $7 billion, according to the report.
