Electric scooter and e-bike company Lime (LIME) opened at $27 a share on Wednesday, a day after pricing its initial public offering (IPO) at $25 per share.
Trading under the ticker LIME, the company priced its IPO Tuesday night at the midpoint of its marketed range of $24 to $26. The company sold 6,956,522 shares, raising approximately $167 million from the sale.
“I would say it’s the right moment because we have been building this business and the last three years we’ve been free cash flow positive, [and] we continue to grow our top line, very healthy 29% top line growth in 2025,” Lime CEO Wayne Ting said to Yahoo Finance. “Now that we are at financial sustainability to tap the public markets to further accelerate growth, and I do think the macro IPO market improving is a good tailwind as well.”
Lime stock was up around 10% in early trade.
At $25 a share, Lime’s post-IPO market capitalization sits at $1.63 billion, based on an estimated 65.1 million shares outstanding. Around $115 million of the proceeds are earmarked to pay down debt. Underwriters hold a 30-day option to buy up to 1,043,478 additional shares at the IPO price.
Lime describes itself as the largest global shared micromobility business. It partners directly with cities to deploy fleets of e-bikes and e-scooters aimed at shorter trips. The company says it has powered more than 1 billion rides across five continents and operates in more than 230 cities worldwide.
Lime says its mobility as a service business using scooters is sustainable.
“So we, on average, pay back the bikes and scooters we put out on the streets in less than one year. These vehicles last five years plus, and so in the course of the full lifetime, we get return on invested capital between 4 to 5 x initial investment, and I think that’s a very consistent, reliable return,” Ting said.
The listing caps a long and rocky road to public markets for the scooter industry. Lime and its rivals burned through venture capital for years chasing city contracts and fighting regulatory battles over sidewalk clutter and safety, and several competitors were absorbed along the way or liquidated through bankruptcy.
Ride-hailing giant Uber is one of Lime’s biggest backers, partnering with Lime in 2018 and owning more than 10% of the company. Uber’s stake traces back to a $170 million investment Uber made that also helped Lime absorb Jump, Uber’s own e-bike and scooter unit, which it shut down and folded into Lime. Uber also guarantees some of Lime’s debt.
