Lyft First Ride-Hailing Firm To Launch IPO In The Week Of March 18

Ride-hailing company Lyft will launch its IPO during the week of March 18, beating Uber in becoming the first publicly-traded ride-hailing firm in the United States.

Reuters reports that Lyft expects to be valued between $20 billion and $25 billion when it goes public, but stressed that plans for its IPO launch are flexible and subject to change due to market conditions.

Lyft and Uber both filed S-1 paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public on the New York Stock Exchange within days of each other in December.

While Lyft expects to be valued at between $20 billion and $25 billion, IPO bankers believe Uber could be valued at up to $120 billion when it goes public. It remains unclear when that will happen, but sources say the ride-hailing giant needs several more weeks to get prepared. Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi had previously told investors that the company was targeting an offering in the first half of the year.

Whereas Uber operates in more than 70 countries, Lyft remains exclusive to the United States and Canada and hasn’t diversified into the world of food delivery, air taxis, and artificial intelligence research like its rival.

While both Lyft and Uber will bring in huge amounts of money when they go public, at this time they’re both losing money. According to Reuters, Lyft will try to persuade investors of its future profitability by presenting earnings metrics for the coming years.