Ride-Hailing App Cabify Is Said to Work on Pre-IPO Funding Round

(Bloomberg) -- Maxi Mobility SL, the holding company of Spanish ride-hailing service Cabify, is working on a funding round ahead of an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

Cabify, backed by investors including Rakuten Inc, is holding talks with investments funds to raise somewhere between 100 million ($112 million) and 300 million euros, according to the people, who can’t be named because the matter is private. The company is raising money ahead of an initial public offering, which could potentially take place next year, one of the people said.

A spokesman for Cabify declined to comment.

Ride-hailing companies are increasingly making the transition from private companies to public markets. Lyft Inc. listed in New York in late March, and Uber Technologies Inc.’s is set to file in May.

Smaller regional rivals are also planning to list. Bolt, which focuses on Eastern Europe and African markets, is also considering an IPO, according to its founder Markus Villig.

Cabify, which is currently valued at about $1 billion, operates in about a dozen countries including Spain, Portugal and several in Latin America. It has faced high-profile criticism from taxi drivers in its home market, who earlier this year went on strike to demand legal safeguards against competition from ride-hailing services.

The strike led to Uber and Cabify pulling their services from Barcelona, although Cabify has since returned to the city and added an option to request taxis rides through it’s app.

To contact the reporters on this story: Macarena Munoz in Madrid at mmunoz39@bloomberg.net;Rodrigo Orihuela in Madrid at rorihuela@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net;Charles Penty at cpenty@bloomberg.net

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