Postmates Sets Sights On September IPO

Postmates will move one step closer to going public when it debuts its IPO paperwork next month.

Sources have revealed that the on-demand delivery company will complete an IPO this year, TechCrunch reported. In fact, if the S-1 is released in September, Postmates will be on track to go public by the end of the third fiscal quarter. The company has already hired JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America as lead underwriters. However, the size and price range of the offering is unknown.

“We can’t comment on the IPO process, and we don’t comment on rumor or speculation,” a Postmates spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Just last month, CEO Bastian Lehmann denied the company was up for sale, vowing to instead take Postmates public in 2019. There were reports that it was talking to bigger companies like Uber, DoorDash and Walmart about a possible deal.

“The official line is ‘I can’t comment,’” he said, and later remarked, “Our plan is to take it public.”

His remarks came after Postmates quietly filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO in February.

Postmates has raised $681 million to date at a $1.85 billion valuation. The company now covers 3,500 cities and recently introduced a new free service called Postmates Party, which currently accounts for about 15 percent of the company’s orders.

The company is also hard at work on a proprietary rover delivery vehicle called Serve that uses sensors to traverse the sidewalk and has remote operators on standby in case of any issues.

In May, the company partnered with Square, the digital payments company, to provide an on-demand delivery for Square small business customers.

“By partnering with Square to offer on-demand delivery, millions of small, local businesses are now able to do something that was not previously available,” James Butts, SVP for product at Postmates, said at the time. “With access to an active fleet of over 300,000 Postmates, local sellers can deliver entirely new experiences to their customers — without the need to hire a developer — while focusing on what they do best: growing their business.”