
The ride-hailing company Lyft said on Thursday that it had taken a key step toward an initial public offering, confidentially filing a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said it had not yet determined how many shares would be sold or the price range for the offering, which is expected to come after the commission completes its review process. The company acknowledged in a statement that the timing would be subject to market and other conditions.
Lyft’s last fund-raising round valued it at $15 billion. The company, which has been in something of a race to go public with its main rival, Uber, has picked JPMorgan Chase to take the lead on its offering.
Lyft reported $1 billion in revenue in 2017, although analysts assume that both Lyft and Uber have burned through large amounts of cash.
Although much smaller than Uber, Lyft has always been its toughest competitor and has largely avoided the kind of regulatory scrutiny and bad publicity that Uber has experienced around the world.
Both companies are working on self-driving vehicles and are also moving into bike and scooter rentals as a way of growing. In July, Lyft acquired Motivate, the owner of Citi Bike, which operates bike-sharing programs in New York and New Jersey, for a reported $250 million.