Gett founder and CEO Shahar Waiser Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Gett, a Volkswagen-backed Israeli ride-hailing company, has announced an already effective closure of its New York rideshare business, Juno. As part of the closure, Gett is transferring its corporate clients in the U.S. to Lyft’s ride-hailing network, thanks to a strategic partnership between both companies. Corporate customers in the U.S. will still be able to book rides on Gett’s app, but will be matched with drivers on Lyft instead of Juno from now on.

Gett says Juno’s closure reinforces its strategy to “build a profitable company focused on the corporate transportation sector”. The Tel-Aviv based company also partly blames Juno’s closure on recently enacted NYC regulations in the ride-hailing sector, or to quote the company; “the enactment of misguided regulations in New York City earlier this year”.

Gett shutting down a business it acquired for $200 million two years ago seems like quite a hit, but isn’t so jolting given reports of an IPO being around the corner. From Gett’s official statement, it seems Juno being unprofitable is the driving reason behind its shut-down. In preparation for a public offering, doing away with unprofitable units and focusing on profitability would benefit Gett, especially at a time when Uber and Lyft, the two biggest ride-hailing incumbents, have fallen much below their IPO debut prices amid series of losses and investor concerns regarding profitability.

Gett, which was valued at $1.5 billion after raising $200 million some few months ago, is said to be eyeing an IPO by next year. Founded in 2010, the company has raised more than $800 million in total funding, including $300 million+ from Volkswagen. Gett has signed up more than 15,000 corporate customers since inception.