Beating bigger rival Uber Technologies Inc. to the punch, Lyft Inc. today released the prospectus for its upcoming initial public offering, giving the industry the first detailed look at its finances and stock market roadmap.  

The ride-hailing provider plans to debut on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “LYFT.” The filing lists the value of the shares to be sold as $100 million, a figure normally used by companies as a placeholder until they settle on a sale target. The market capitalization Lyft is aiming for isn’t mentioned, either, but recent reports have indicated the IPO could value it at between $20 billion and $25 billion.

The company is headed to the stock market without having yet turned a profit. Lyft lost $911 million in 2018, up 32 percent from $688.3 million the year prior, as it continued to burn through cash to fuel growth activities.

Revenues doubled year-over-year to $2.2 billion on a big jump in bookings. The total amount of money consumers spent on Lyft trips rose 76 percent in 2018 to $8.1 billion, an increase driven in large part by new users. The IPO prospectus shows Lyft had 18.6 million active riders in the fourth quarter, up 47 percent from a year ago.

The company’s ride-hailing network now spans more than 300 markets in the United States and Canada. Lyft only recently started expanding abroad after years of operating solely in the U.S, where its share of the ride-hailing market has risen from 22 percent at the end of 2016 to 39 percent today.

Uber has a much more substantial international presence, which is one of the reasons behind its higher valuation. The company is expected to go public this year as well with a reported market capitalization of up to $120 billion.

Like Lyft, Uber isn’t yet profitable, but it has taken steps to cut costs ahead of its IPO. The ride-hailing giant reduced adjusted losses to $768 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 from $1.1 billion the prior year, while growing revenue by 25 percent, to $3 billion.

Lyft, for its part, plans to continue spending aggressively for the foreseeable future. The company said in its prospectus that “our expenses will likely increase in the future as we develop and launch new offerings and platform features, expand in existing and new markets, increase our sales and marketing efforts and continue to invest in our platform.”

As its IPO nears, Lyft will have to persuade prospective investors to look past the mounting losses and intense competition from Uber. The fact that the company grew more than twice as fast as Uber despite operating in considerably fewer regions could very well be enough to win over Wall Street.  

Lyft has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to underwrite the  IPO.

Photo: Lyft