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(Reuters) – DoorDash Inc, the U.S. food delivery startup backed by SoftBank Group Corp (T:9984), made public on Friday its regulatory filing for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, setting the stage for a blockbuster IPO before the end of the year.
The move to go public by DoorDash, which competes with Uber Eats, GrubHub Inc (N:GRUB) and Postmates Inc, follows a surge in demand for food delivery services during the COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year.
In its IPO filing, DoorDash reported revenue of $1.92 billion for the first nine months of 2020, up more than three times from the same period a year earlier. The company reported a profit of $23 million for the first time in its history during the second quarter of 2020.
The startup currently has about $1.6 billion of cash and a $300 million credit facility, that will rise to $400 million after the IPO.
During the past year, DoorDash also brought down its cash burn rates significantly. Net loss narrowed to $149 million for the first nine months of 2020, from $533 million during the same period a year earlier.
The company’s filing kicks off a frenetic period for U.S. capital markets, with several high-profile names including home rental giant Airbnb, e-commerce firm Wish and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin’s lending startup Affirm lined up for stock market debuts in December.
Silicon Valley-based DoorDash filed for an IPO of $100 million, although that is a placeholder amount and is expected to change.
The company had confidentially filed for an IPO in February, following the likes of ride-hailing firms Uber Technologies Inc (N:UBER) and Lyft Inc (O:LYFT), which went public last year.
DoorDash’s move to go public also comes after voters in trend-setting California backed a ballot proposal by Uber and its allies that cemented the status of app-based food delivery and ride-hail drivers as independent contractors and not employees.
Victory in the ballot contest allows Uber, Lyft and other consumer internet allies to set the employment terms of the gig economy that they helped create.
DoorDash, the largest U.S. third-party delivery company for restaurants, was valued at roughly $16 billion after its most recent funding round in June, according to data platform PitchBook.
Till date, it has raised roughly $3 billion from a wide range of investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, DST Global, Temasek Capital and Sequoia Capital.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and J.P. Morgan are the lead underwriters for DoorDash’s IPO.
