US-based ride hailing platform Uber, which counts several corporates as investors, plans to file for an initial public offering with a $10bn target, Reuters reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company intends to file for the offering tomorrow with a view to going public in early May, and will look to float at a valuation between $90bn and $100bn, according to the sources. Investment bankers had predicted a possible valuation of up to $120bn in October 2018.
Uber runs an on-demand ride service that spans some 70 countries and which has stretched into adjacent offerings like its food delivery platform, UberEats, as well as freight delivery, and scooter and electric bicycle rental. It is also conducting substantial research on autonomous driving.
The majority of the shares will reportedly be issued by the company itself, while some of its investors will look to divest shares in the offering. It has raised approximately $13.3bn in debt and equity financing in total.
Uber’s last funding was secured in August 2018 when carmaker Toyota invested $500m at a $72bn valuation, three months after Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital and TPG bought $600m of shares at a $62bn valuation in a secondary transaction.
Telecommunications group SoftBank had led a consortium including TPG and Dragoneer that provided $1.25bn in funding for Uber at a $68bn valuation in late 2017, alongside a purchase of $7.2bn of secondary shares at a $48bn valuation.
The company’s other corporate backers include Chinese counterpart Didi Chuxing, media groups Axel Springer and Bennett Coleman & Co, software provider Microsoft, internet company Baidu and GV, the corporate venturing unit formerly known as Google Ventures.
Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Citic Bank, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, Wellington Management, Kleiner Perkins, Menlo Ventures, Data Collective, CrunchFund, BlackRock, Lowercase Capital, First Round Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Innovation Endeavors and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are also investors.
Uber’s largest rival in the US, Lyft, raised $2.34bn at a $24.3bn valuation when it went public late last month at the top of its range, but its share price has since fallen from $72.00 at the time of its IPO to $67.44 at close of trading yesterday.
