Lyft, the US-based ride hailing service backed by corporates including General Motors (GM), Alphabet, Alibaba, Rakuten and Magna International, is gearing up for an initial public offering, Bloomberg reported today.
The company has hired Class V Group, an advisory firm specialising in initial public offerings, to prepare for taking pitches from potential underwriters as soon as September and preparing a listing by March or April 2019.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the efforts were motivated by Lyft’s desire to beat its competitor Uber, which has said it is aiming for a flotation in the second half of next year, to the public markets. Lyft has declined to confirm the reports.
Lyft operates an app-based ride hailing service that had more than 610,000 daily active drivers across North America as of the end of 2017. The company enabled more than 375 million journeys throughout last year.
Lyft has secured $4.4bn in equity funding to date and most recently raised $600m at a $15bn valuation in June this year. The round was d led by financial services group Fidelity Management and Research, with participation from hedge fund Senator Investment Group.
Automotive components producer Magna International supplied $200m in March this year.
The company first secured corporate backers for its $250m series D round in 2014, attracting e-commerce group Alibaba as well as Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Coatue Management, Third Point Ventures and Mayfield Fund.
Alibaba returned the following year for a $680m series E round and was joined by e-commerce firm Rakuten, internet group Tencent, on-demand ride provider Didi Chuxing and conglomerate Icahn Enterprises.
Automotive manufacturer GM then led a $1bn round in early 2016 that featured Alibaba, Didi Chuxing, Janus Capital and Kingdom Holding, before Lyft obtained $600m from Rakuten, AllianceBernstein, Baillie Gifford, Janus Henderson and KKR in April 2017.
InMotion Ventures, the investment division of carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, provided $25m in June 2017 before CapitalG, the growth equity arm of diversified conglomerate Alphabet, led a $1.5bn round for Lyft in December the same year.
Fidelity also took part in the December round, alongside Rakuten, AllianceBernstein, Baillie Gifford, KKR, Janus Henderson and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.