BusinessJul 1, 2026
Electric Scooter Firm Lime Raises $174M in Market Entry
Mobility Tech
Rhea Lobo
Discover
Neutron Holdings, the parent company of electric scooter and bike rental service Lime, raised $174M in its Nasdaq IPO on July 1, with shares opening at $27 — 8% above the offering price.
The debut values Lime at roughly $1.73B, a significant recovery from the $510M valuation the company carried after an Uber-led funding round in 2020.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase led the deal. Underwriters hold a 30-day option to buy up to 1.04M additional shares at the IPO price.
About $115M of the proceeds are earmarked to pay down debt, leaving the company with limited fresh capital for expansion. The 10 largest investors in the offering took more than 75% of the shares, with demand running roughly six times the available supply.
Lime first floated IPO plans in 2021 but held off as market conditions deteriorated. The company operates in more than 230 cities across five continents and says it has powered more than 1B rides. Several former competitors, including Bird, filed for bankruptcy, while others like Tier and Dott merged to survive.
Lime posted a net loss of $59.3M on revenue of $886.7M in 2025, a 29% increase in top-line sales year over year.
"The last three years we've been free cash flow positive, we continue to grow our top line," CEO Wayne Ting said.
Uber is both a strategic partner and a significant shareholder. It agreed to purchase up to $20M of stock at the offering price, acting as an anchor investor.
After the IPO, Uber controls roughly 22% of outstanding shares, down from 24% before the offering. In 2025, 14.5% of Lime's revenue came through the Uber partnership.
Lime's pitch to investors rests on vehicle-level returns. The company says it recoups the cost of each e-bike or scooter in under one year, and that vehicles last more than five years, producing a 4x to 5x return on the initial investment over a vehicle's lifetime.
Analysts offered a measured read of the debut. IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer noted that pricing at the midpoint and opening above issue reflected adequate demand without signaling a breakout listing. He added that Lime needs to demonstrate growth across different seasons and market cycles without simply deploying more vehicles and capital.
Lime's IPO lands as the broader US IPO market regains momentum in 2026 following a period of volatility.
