Singapore ride-hailing firm Ryde to debut on New York Stock Exchange

RIDE-hailing and carpooling firm Ryde is joining a growing number of Singapore-based companies listed on the US stock market.

The home-grown start-up is raising US$12 million from its initial public offering (IPO) through the sale of three million ordinary shares priced at USS$4 apiece, the company announced on Mar 6. It declined to comment on its targeted valuation.

The counter will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Mar 6 (10.30pm Singapore time) under the ticker symbol “RYDE”.

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 S$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 S$2.2 million came from advertising and the firm’s Ryde+ membership.

But the firm registered recurring losses of S$4.96 million in 2022, and S$1.24 million in 2021, according to the financials in the prospectus. It also incurred a loss of nearly S$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 S$461,000 and its shareholders’ deficiency was close to S$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.

SEE ALSO

Private-hire COE category ‘possible’ but needs careful study; new measures to stabilise private-hire, taxi supply

Grab, GoTo to revive talks for ride-hailing mega-merger: sources

In 2021, Ryde had announced plans to list on the Singapore Exchange’s Catalist board in March 2022 with a targeted valuation of S$200 million, but no prospectus was lodged. THE STRAITS TIMES