Ride-hailing startup Lyft Inc. is booming as it heads toward an initial public offering next year, according to a report published Wednesday.

Quoting internal Lyft documents, The Information reported that Lyft more than doubled its revenue in the first half of the year, to $909 million, while at the same time the growth of its losses slowed versus the year before.

The company’s net loss still rose 46 percent from a year ago, to $373 million, or 41 cents for every dollar of revenue. By comparison, Lyft lost 62 cents for every dollar in 2017. It’s on track to pass $2 billion in revenue this year after passing the $1 billion mark in 2017.

Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft’s main rival in the U.S. market, reported net revenue of $2.7 billion for the second quarter of this year along with a massive $891 million net loss.

Like Uber, Lyft is also headed for an IPO. Rumors first emerged in September 2017 that Lyft was looking at hiring an advisory firm for a public offering. But a year later, plans may soon come to fruition. Reuters reported that the company is in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to underwrite the float.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are said to have decided not to pursue a role in the Lyft IPO out of loyalty to Uber, since both companies are Uber investors.

The report noted that “Lyft’s and Uber’s IPOs will test investor tolerance for lack of profitability when it comes to iconic technology unicorns” because “both companies have taken hits in their bottom lines in order to attract drivers and enter new markets, although they have made strides in recent years in narrowing their losses.”

With six years of experience and $4.9 billion in funds raised, a figure surpassed only by Uber, Lyft will go public next year, an unlikely company collapse aside, since it’s too big to continue to raise venture capital funding and its investors will be looking for a fat exit.

Photo: urbanists/Flickr