General Motors is following up its $500 million bet on Lyft Inc. with acquiring the technology and most of the assets of the San Francisco-based ride-hailing pioneer Sidecar Technologies Inc.
GM is also bringing on board around 20 employees from the Sidecar team, including co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jahan Khanna. Co-founder and CEO Sunil Paul is not joining GM.
The price of the transaction was not disclosed, although word on the street has the deal valued around $39 million. That is the amount of cash Sidecar raised in its failing effort to compete with much better-financed rivals like Uber and Lyft. David Roman, a GM spokesman, said the assets and employees would support the Lyft alliance and other efforts at the automaker.
The deal is another sign that automakers are fully aware and are addressing the potential threat Uber poses to them.
On Jan. 4, GM announced it had invested $500 million in Lyft as part of a $1 billion round that valued the company at $5.5 billion. Daniel Ammann, GM’s president, joined Lyft’s board as part of the deal.
