Uber’s IPO Countdown Is Underway

Morning Report: Uber’s board agrees with its new CEO that Uber needs to go public.

Uber had another awkward weekend after its former CEO unilaterally appointed two new members to the firm’s board. The move surprised the unicorn’s new CEO and extant board.

But, from that situation has come two votes, according to the New York Times. First, that the firm will accept Softbank’s massive investment and its companion governance changes. (That round will also provide a stiff slug of secondary for prior shareholders alongside raising a billion or more for Uber proper.) Second, the following:

In addition, directors approved a resolution for Uber to go public by 2019, the people briefed on the meeting said, setting up what could be one of the largest technology stock offerings in years.

If you thought that the Snap Inc. IPO was a goat rodeo, prepare for a real circus.

To remind ourselves, we have a decent look at the broadest swaths of Uber’s business: Its gross ride sales, its effective revenue, and its heavily adjusted losses. (In the case of Uber, we want to use its adjusted revenue, as that figure better accounts for UberPool top line.)  The numbers break down like this:

• $8.7 billion in Q2 gross bookings (Q1: $7.5 billion)
• $1.75 billion in Q2 adjusted revenue (Q1: $1.5 billion)
• $645 million in adjusted net loss (Q1: $708 million)

Throw in uncertainty regarding self-driving cars, rising competition both domestically and abroad (Hello, Alphabet) and Uber has a lot of work ahead of it to get public by 2019’s kickoff. The good news is that Uber has wrapped its third quarter like everyone else.

We should get new numbers from them in about a month. Start placing bets.

From the Crunchbase Daily:

 Global VC investing soars in Q3

• Global venture investment is at its highest point since the Dot-Com bubble, according to Crunchbase projections for the third quarter of 2017. Both deal counts and dollar volume are hitting multi-year highs, with total investment projected at around $60 billion, up over 30 percent from the second quarter. Read our full Q3 global investment report here.

Uber settles issues as it eyes IPO

• Uber’s board approved a raft of measures that move the ride-hailing giant closer to becoming a public company. Directors voted to move ahead with a proposed investment by SoftBank, to eliminate super-voting rights, to expand the board, and to set a goal of going public by 2019.

Infinidat raises $95M for data storage

• Infinidat, a provider of petabyte-scale data storage technology to large enterprises, closed a $95 million Series C financing round that values the company at $1.6 billion. Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing led the round, with participation from TPG Growth.

Boston Scientific buys Apama Medical

• Boston Scientific is acquiring Apama Medical, a developer of catheters used in treating heart rhythm disorders, for $175 million up front and up to $125 million in milestone payments. Campbell, Calif.-based Apama previously raised $35 million in venture funding.