Uber was revealed to be potentially looking to make an initial public offering (IPO) as early as 2016, after an investor presentation leaked on Friday outlining the company’s future plans.
The undated but recent document, seen by the newswire Reuters, showed the taxi-hailing service’s global bookings are forecast to rise threefold to $10.8bn (£6.9bn) this year, and more than $26bn in 2016.
It also claimed that Uber would consider going public within 18 to 24 months, in contrast to previous executive refusals to speak about their IPO plans.
Contacted for comment by Reuters, Uber said it would not respond to rumours.
According to the newswire the presentation was prepared by Chinese bankers with the intention of promoting more investment in the company’s Series F funding round.
Of late Uber has faced competition from Asian rivals Did Kuaidi in China and GrabTaxi in South East Asia, the former having just invested millions in the latter to try and push back against Uber in the region.
Whilst the presentation showed bookings reached $2.9bn last year and almost $700m in 2013, it did not go into details of the firm’s profits, the subject of a recent controversy at Uber after financial results were leaked.
Defending itself despite not confirming the veracity of the previous financial results, Uber said: "It’s a case of business 101: you raise money, you invest money, you grow (hopefully), you make a profit and that generates a return for investors."
