Cabify Seeks Funding Ahead Of IPO

Cabify is looking to raise between 100 million ($112 million) and 300 million euros as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO).

Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reported that the IPO could take place next year. A spokesman for Cabify, which is currently valued at around $1 billion, declined to comment. The company operates in about a dozen countries, including Spain, Portugal and several in Latin America.

The news comes as other ridesharing companies are also planning to go public. Bolt, which focuses on Eastern Europe and African markets, is also thinking about filing for an IPO, according to Founder Markus Villig. And, of course, rideshare giant Uber is eyeing an initial public offering sometime this month, looking to raise $10 billion via the offering. If Uber files for a $10 billion IPO, it will be the largest this year and could even surpass Facebook, which holds the current record for the biggest IPO of a U.S. technology company. When the social media giant went public in 2012, it raised $16 billion.

The anticipation of Uber’s IPO has also had an impact on Lyft’s stock market performance. When Lyft launched its IPO, its stock cost $72 per share on March 29. Since then, Uber released its IPO prospectus, and investors apparently soured on that company’s ridesharing rival.

The reasons are not immediately clear, though, as PYMNTS has reported: There is confusion about how to measure and compare the two ridesharing pioneers, each of which uses differing metrics for certain important financials, including gross bookings.

For 2018, Uber had gross bookings of more than $50 billion, a 45 percent increase from 2017. Lyft had gross bookings of more than $8 billion last year – less than Uber took in, but a 76 percent increase from the previous year, outpacing Uber’s growth. Uber has a valuation of $100 billion at this point, while Lyft’s is not even 20 percent of that.