Lyft Prepares to Launch IPO

February 21, 2019

Santosh Rao, the head of research at the merchant bank Manhattan Venture Partners told Business Insider, “Lyft has the clear early-mover advantage, and they will definitely get the benefit of the doubt. No one knows how to value these companies. Is it a software company? Is it a car company? Is it a service?”

Business Insider has also reported, “Rao, who specializes in late-stage, pre-IPO company research, says the most accurate comparison is to platform companies, such as Etsy or Alibaba. Based on these multiples, Rao’s firm estimates a fair value of Lyft to be $19 billion to $20 billion.”