Lime Goes Public: Micromobility Giant Launches IPO

Lime, one of the world's largest operators of electric scooter and bike rentals, has completed its long-awaited IPO (Initial Public Offering) and officially became a public company. After nine years of operation, facing various financial difficulties and pandemic restrictions, the startup successfully listed its shares on the Nasdaq exchange. This was reported by Techcrunch.com news reports.

The company managed to raise 167 million dollars in its debut trading. Supported by Uber, Lime sold a total of 6.68 million shares at 25 dollars each. This figure falls in the middle of the previously planned range of 24-26 dollars. Once trading began on the Nasdaq under the ticker "LIME", the share price rose by 9 percent within the first hour.

According to TechCrunch, as a result of this IPO, Lime's total market value is approximately 1.66 billion dollars. This figure is close to the 2021 indicators of its main competitor, Bird, although Lime management emphasizes that its business model is significantly more stable.

Challenges Left Behind

Lime CEO Wayne Ting admitted in an interview that reaching today's level was not easy. According to him, there were times when the company came close to bankruptcy and its future was in question. "Standing here today as a public company is the result of great hard work and patience," says Ting.

The micromobility market has become a quite ruthless environment in recent years. For example, while Bird was forced to file for bankruptcy, other competitors—Tier and Dott—tried to survive by merging. Projects like Superpedestrian shut down completely. In such conditions, Lime succeeded in increasing its revenues: the 521 million dollars in 2023 grew to 886.7 million dollars last year.

Financial Obligations and Future Plans

Nevertheless, the company faces serious financial tasks. In documents submitted ahead of the IPO, Lime disclosed debt obligations of nearly 1 billion dollars. More than half of this debt must be paid by the end of the current year. The funds raised from the sale of shares will be used specifically to cover these obligations and expand the business.

At a time when micromobility, especially scooter rentals, is becoming popular in developing markets like Uzbekistan, the success of a global leader like Lime on the stock market is considered a positive signal for industry investors. The company claims to have been making an operating profit for the last three years and has now entered a stage of stable development.