Postmates Inc. has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in a move that will see another on-demand unicorn company become publicly-traded.
The San-Francisco-based food delivery company announced in a blog post on Thursday that it has confidentially filed for an IPO. The privately held startup said the proposed size and price range for its offering have not yet been determined.
Postmates did not provide details on the time frame to complete the offering, but said that it expects it to commence after the completion of the SEC review process, subject to market and other conditions.
Postmates was founded in 2011 by Bastian Lehmann, Sean Plaice, and Sam Street. Its main business is providing restaurant delivery through its app and website. The company now operates in 2,940 US cities, as well as Mexico, and provides access to over 250,000 merchants.
The company generates revenue from subscription fees, delivery charges and the cuts it takes of orders made via its platform.
Postmates has not yet reached the point of full profitability. Postmates’ chief financial officer Kristin Schaefer recently said in an interview with The Information that the company can be profitable in a couple of quarters. “I know lots of companies say that, but we definitely could,” Schaefer said.
Postmates competes with GrubHub, Uber Eats and DoorDash.
The total valuation of the startup reached $1.85 billion in January after it completed a $100 million funding round led by BlackRock and Tiger Global. It has raised more than $675 million in funding to date.
Other unicorn companies slated to go public this year include Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and Pinterest.
Video – What is an IPO?
An IPO or initial public offering takes place when the shares of a company become available for members of the public to purchase for first time.