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IPO Debut and Valuation
Uber-backed Lime began life as a public company after raising $167 million in its U.S. IPO, valuing the electric scooter and bike operator at about $1.73 billion in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday.
“raised $167 million in its U.S. IPO, valuing the electric scooter and bike operator at about $1.73 billion”
Reuters said Lime’s shares jumped 8% in the debut, opening at $27 compared with an initial offering price of $25, after the company and existing stockholders sold about 7 million shares in the offering.
TechCrunch reported Lime sold 6.68 million shares at $25 each at the mid-point of its $24 to $26 price range, and said shares started trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker “LIME” on Wednesday afternoon, jumping around 9% in the first hour.
TechCrunch also said the long-awaited IPO pegs Lime’s valuation at around $1.66 billion, just shy of the price fellow micromobility company Bird got when it merged with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021.
Wayne Ting on Going Public
Lime’s CEO Wayne Ting told TechCrunch that “Standing here today as a public company feels incredibly rewarding,” describing the path as taking “a lot of heart, sweat, and tears to get to this point.”
In the same interview, Ting said he had “many days, weeks, months, where I wasn’t sure if Lime was going to make it past the next three months, four months,” linking the IPO moment to resilience and patience.
TechCrunch reported that Lime was considering an IPO for years, including after a $523 million funding round in 2021 when Ting told TechCrunch the company was eyeing an IPO in 2022.
The Journal Record said Lime was founded in 2017 and is based in San Francisco, California, and provides short-term rentals of electric bikes and scooters in more than 230 cities worldwide.
Debt, Uber Dependence, and Next Steps
TechCrunch said Lime needs the IPO proceeds to help resolve around $1 billion in liabilities, with more than half due by the end of this year, and noted that some of that debt is convertible.
“Lime said it needs the IPO proceeds to help resolve around $1 billion in liabilities”
The Journal Record reported that Lime counts on its partnership with Uber, a major backer, for a significant chunk of its revenue, and said Uber’s ride-hailing app offers Lime’s scooters as a transport option.
TechCrunch added that Uber owns 24% of Lime and accounted for more than 14% of its revenue last year, framing Lime’s public-market debut as tied to a key distribution relationship.
In its IPO filing in May, TechCrunch said Lime expressed “substantial doubt” that it could continue as a going concern, positioning the listing as a financing bridge for the company’s next phase.