Ride-hailing startup Lyft is steering toward the public financial markets.
In a brief statement issued Thursday morning, Lyft said it has confidentially submitted a draft registration on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering of common stock. The company said it has not yet determined the number of shares to be offered or the price range for the IPO.
“The initial public offering is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” Lyft said.
Both Lyft and its competitor Uber have been widely anticipated to pursue IPOs, with Uber expected to make its move in 2019. In June, Lyft raised an additional $600 million in an investment round, bringing its valuation to $15.1 billion. That was about a quarter of Uber’s valuation of $62 billion at the time.
Lyft’s fierce competition with Uber extends beyond hailing cars with a mobile app. Both are also players in other forms of transportation in a game of mode leapfrog: Lyft, for example, entered the bikesharing market when it acquired Motivate in July, after Uber bought bikeshare startup JUMP in April.
Even there’s no stated timing for a Lyft IPO, Reuters reports that its sources say it will happen in the first half of 2019. Reuters earlier reported that JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse and Jeffries have been chosen by Lyft as its IPO underwriters.
