CHINESE startup Luckin Coffee, which has ambitions to overtake Starbucks at home this year, has tapped three investment banks including Credit Suisse to work on a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) in 2019, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are also advising Luckin, one of the quickest firms to reach unicorn status in China, on preparatory work for the initial public offering, said the people. One of the people said the company is targeting a valuation of about US$3 billion in the IPO.

Credit Suisse is the only bank that has so far won the formal mandate for the IPO which will likely take place early in May or June, or the second half of the year, said another person.

Beijing-based Luckin, which officially launched its business only in January last year and is still loss-making, chose New York for the listing as Hong Kong generally requires IPO applicants to have a track record of three financial years.

Another reason is that Luckin looks to benchmark itself against Seattle-based Starbucks in terms of valuation, said the people. Starbucks has long dominated China’s coffee scene and has over 3,600 stores in the country.

The move comes as Luckin, backed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd., expands at breakneck speed across China. The firm already opened over 2,000 cafes last year, propelled by a focus on online ordering, cheap delivery, and heavy discounting even at the cost of mounting losses. (SD-Agencies)