Lime Lands $523M as It Prepares to Go Public

Urban mobility company Lime has raised $523 million in an effort to ramp up production of its newest line of eScooters and eBikes, all in preparation to go public next year, Reuters reported Friday (Nov. 5).

Lime said the funds came from convertible debt and term loan financing, including capital from Uber, which began investing in the San Francisco firm last year. Lime CEO Wayne Ting told Reuters this round was “significantly oversubscribed.”

“I think it’s a recognition that Lime is now the undisputed leader in this space,” Ting said. “It’s a real milestone that shows investor confidence that Lime will be going public, and we’ll use this as a launching pad to go public next year.”

According to Ting, Lime hopes to become listed in the summer of 2022, depending on market conditions. The CEO says he’s “agnostic” on whether Lime will go public via traditional initial public offering (IPO) or try to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

As Reuters notes, another eScooter company — Santa Monica-based Bird — is going public through a $2.3 billion SPAC by merging with Switchback II Corp.

Bird added shared eBikes to its vehicle fleet along with the Bird Bike, a shared smart vehicle, earlier this year.

Read more: Bird Expands Its eBike Fleet, Launches Smart Vehicle

As for Lime, the company says this latest funding will help scale its “Gen4” eScooters and eBikes that include “swept handlebars for a more comfortable ride,” more reflectors to give added rider visibility and a swappable battery between both vehicles.

Also see: Lime And Moovit Announce Global Micromobility Partnership

In July, Lime announced a partnership with the urban mobility service provider Moovit that integrated Lime’s vehicle fleet into the Moovit app in 117 cities across 20 countries, including the U.S., South Africa and parts of Europe and Australia.

The integration was designed to “encourage riders toward car-free, multi-modal trips by enabling Moovit users to incorporate Lime scooters, bikes or mopeds as part of their journey,” the two companies said at the time.