Lyft increases reach to 50 additional US cities

Lyft will soon reach 300 cities, or 72 percent of the US population.

Ride-sharing company Lyft announced it's opening for business in an additional 50 US cities this week.

The bulk of the expansion is centered around the upper midwest "rust belt' states, the southeast, and along the eastern seaboard. In particular, several locations in Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, where Lyft had been notably absent from before.

In late January, Lyft announced an expansion into 100 cities in 2017. With the initial group of 40 cities added at the time of the announcement and the latest 50, that push is nearly complete.

A year ago, Lyft inked a deal with General Motors to receive a $500 million investment from the automaker. In return, GM will be the preferred vehicle provider and will cooperate with Lyft to conduct autonomous vehicle research. GM will also allow Lyft access to its OnStar telematics system.

When the last 10 cities are added, that will put the pink mustache in 300 US cities, reaching an 231 million people by the company's own estimates, which is equivalent to about 72 percent of the US population.