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Lyft gets $100 million from Chinese firm; Uber appeals class action

September 17, 2015

Three firms ranked among the largest online work services firms by Staffing Industry Analysts made headlines.

Lyft, a provider of ride-hailing services, announced in a blog post Wednesday that it received a $100 million investment from Didi Kuaidi — the China-based company ranks as the second-largest online work services firm and is the largest provider of ride-hailing services in China. Lyft and Didi Kuaidi also formed a partnership to let Lyft customers use their Lyft app in China while Didi Kuaidi customers can use their app service in the US.

Didi Kuaidi itself closed a $3 billion round of funding last week, Reuters reported. However, Business Insider reports the company appears to be losing money.

Separately, the largest online work services firm and ride-hailing provider, Uber, filed an appeal to a court decision that certified a case against it as class action, TechCrunch reported. The case was brought by California drivers who claim they were misclassified as independent contractors.

Earlier this month a federal judge in California ruled the case could proceed as a class action. Uber at the time reported the class action could involve fewer than 15,000 drivers. Only a few hundred drivers that are actively driving for Uber today are able to participate in the class action because the ruling found that only drivers who stopped driving before June 2014 or drove after June 2014 but chose to opt out of the arbitration option in their agreements are eligible, according to Uber. In addition, individuals who registered with Uber as a corporation also cannot participate in the class. Uber says the last point means drivers like Barbara Berwick would not qualify — a California Labor Commission decision recently ruled Berwick an employee, not an independent contractor.