JP Morgan Chase to lead Lyft’s IPO

The market for on-demand ride-hailing services is a hotly contested one with various successful companies popping up, in the wake of Uber’s success. The United States of America, being Uber’s home turf is also contested by its arch-rival Lyft. Founded in San Francisco, Lyft is now gearing up to go public in the middle of 2019. And supporting Lyft’s IPO is none other JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States and one of the largest in the world. Other financial services institutions to underwrite the IPO are Credit Suisse Group of Switzerland and the New York-based Jefferies Group.

This is a serious step towards an IPO, which was to be expected. Lyft’s rival Uber’s efforts for the same have been marred by numerous legal troubles stemming from its former CEO’s various clashes with the law and sexual harassment allegations. Nevertheless, Lyft is also is in for serious competition, given the fact that financial institutions have valued Uber’s proposed IPO at a whopping $120 billion. On the other hand, experts place Lyft’s value at a little above $15 billion. This valuation comes in the wake of a staggering $600 million fund raised in a Series I round, led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. This marks a two-fold increase in valuation for Lyft in a span of under two years.

Lyft has been actively expanding its operations in the United States and abroad, in addition to pushing its autonomous vehicles plans.