SINGAPORE – Ride-hailing and carpooling firm Ryde has joined a growing number of Singapore-based companies listed on the US stock market.
The home-grown start-up is raising US$12 million (S$16.1 million) from its initial public offering (IPO) through the sale of three million ordinary shares priced at US$4 apiece, the company announced on March 6. It declined to comment on its targeted valuation.
The counter began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 6 (10.30pm Singapore time) under the ticker symbol “RYDE”. It closed unchanged at US$4 in regular trade, and was down 2.25 per cent after-hours as at 6.07pm New York time.
The ride-hailing platform, which was founded in 2014, said in its IPO prospectus that it “differentiated” itself from its competitors such as Grab and Uber by focusing on its carpooling service.
In 2022, Ryde posted a revenue of $8.8 million, primarily driven by its carpooling and ride-hailing services, which accounted for about three-quarters of its total revenue. The remaining revenue of about $2.2 million came from advertising and the firm’s Ryde+ membership.
But the firm registered recurring losses of $4.96 million in 2022, and $1.24 million in 2021, according to the financials in the prospectus. It also incurred a loss of nearly $4 million for the six months ended June 2023.
The prospectus also said Ryde’s accounting firm raised “doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”, as the company’s working capital stood at negative $461,000 and its shareholders’ deficiency was close to $5 million as at the end of 2022.
A negative working capital and a shareholders’ deficiency mean that a company has more liabilities than assets.
Ryde noted in the prospectus that its management has begun a strategy to raise debt and equity, including raising funds through the IPO.
In 2021, Ryde had announced plans to list on the Singapore Exchange’s Catalist board in March 2022 with a targeted valuation of $200 million, but no prospectus was lodged.
A Ryde spokesman told The Straits Times that the company decided to list in the US instead of Singapore due to “greater global recognition, the visibility of US exchanges and higher liquidity”.
He declined to comment on the company’s profitability.
