Travis Kalanick says he wouldn't do 'anything different' about the missed Uber-Lyft acquisition

The former Uber CEO said the two companies were culturally just too different.

Theo Wargo/WireImage The former Uber CEO said he has no regrets about how he handled a potential acquisition of Lyft.

Uber-Lyft talks in 2014 collapsed over valuation disagreements and cultural mismatches.

Kalanick recently launched robotics company Atoms and raised $1.7 billion for the startup.

Uber and Lyft were just not meant to be, says Travis Kalanick.

In an Andreessen Horowitz interview released on Friday, the former Uber CEO said he has no regrets about how he handled a potential acquisition of Lyft.

"I wouldn't do anything different.

And it's easy to say now, but I got a lot of shit for that for a long time," he said.

"I would sit across the table from the guys, and it was just clear that we were very culturally different." Uber held acquisition talks to buy its rival Lyft in 2014.

The negotiations fell apart because Kalanick refused to pay more than $2 billion, while Lyft was seeking a higher valuation.

In Friday's interview, Kalanick said that cultural mismatch was a problem too, and it started with Lyft's pink mustache effort.

In 2012, Lyft introduced a giant plush pink mustache on its car grilles to make its vehicles instantly recognizable and reinforce a playful brand that contrasted with taxis and Uber.

The quirky "carstache" fit Lyft's image of ride-hailing as a social experience, but it became less suitable as the company sought business customers.

Lyft began moving away from the oversize mustache around 2014, replacing it with subtler, more practical ways to identify the correct car.