Lime files for Nasdaq IPO, ticker LIME

Lime, the shared scooter and e-bike operator backed by Uber, officially filed for a US initial public offering on Friday under its corporate name Neutron Holdings. The San Francisco-based company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker LIME, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan serving as joint book-running managers. Pricing terms, the number of shares, and the target valuation were not disclosed in the initial filing.

The S-1 filing arrives after a quiet period for IPOs. The market reopened in March following a spring slowdown caused by Middle East tensions and equity-market volatility. A queue of filers in AI-infrastructure, defense, and biotech sectors has since worked through the pipeline. Lime represents the first major urban-mobility company to test public-market appetite since 2018, when competitors like Bird and Uber’s Jump unit attracted the last big valuations in micromobility.

The category Lime is entering has a troubled history. Bird filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2023 after misstating ridership revenue and burning through its SPAC cash. Tier laid off 22% of its workforce in 2024 before merging with Dott. Spin shut down entirely. Voi reached EBITDA-positive in 2022 but has not gone public. The narrative surrounding shared scooters in 2018 was one of hyper-growth, low margins, and regulatory constraints. By 2024, two of those three factors had been priced out of the business model.

Lime’s filing presents a different story. The company reported $686 million in 2024 revenue, up 32% year-over-year, and posted positive free cash flow for the second consecutive year. Lime says it now operates in 280 cities across roughly 30 countries and served more than 24 million riders in 2024. Profit growth, according to the company, outpaced revenue growth. None of these data points alone proves a public-market case, but together they deliver something the rest of micromobility never managed: a financial profile that public investors can underwrite without needing to invent a total addressable market story.

Wayne Ting has been chief executive since May 2020, taking over from Brad Bao after Lime’s pandemic-era restructuring. The current operating model focuses on contracts with cities, which buy permits or limit fleet sizes, in-house fleet maintenance, and integration with the Uber app, which now lists Lime in over 55 cities globally. Both elements are critical for the equity story: regulatory durability and a partner-driven distribution channel.

Uber’s stake in Lime dates to 2020, when it invested at a $510 million post-money valuation as part of a $170 million round. Uber also divested its own Jump bike-and-scooter business into Lime in the same transaction. The IPO marks the first opportunity for Uber to mark its position to a public price. Lime executives have said the company is targeting a substantially higher valuation than its 2020 mark. Bankers familiar with the process have pointed to a target in the $4 billion to $5 billion range, though that has not been disclosed in the S-1.

The relationship between Lime and Uber cuts both ways. Uber is both an investor and a competing platform. Uber’s own ride-hailing business has at times run promotional pricing that displaces low-end mobility journeys. On the other hand, Uber’s app is one of Lime’s largest top-of-funnel channels. The risk factors section of the S-1 will be worth reading closely on this point.

Lime is filing into a market that has been more receptive to physical-asset and infrastructure stories than to consumer mobility. Fervo Energy’s $1.33 billion climate-tech listing and X-Energy’s record $1.02 billion nuclear IPO were both well subscribed. SpaceX has begun a roadshow at a $1.75 trillion target valuation. The unifying feature among these companies is a balance-sheet-heavy profile with long-duration revenue visibility. Lime fits that profile less perfectly. Its assets depreciate quickly. Its city contracts come with re-tender risk. The residual cohort of Bird, Tier, and others reminds investors that the category model is still being written.

Recent precedents in adjacent consumer fintech and platform stories have not all aged well. The cautionary arc of Klarna’s post-IPO 76% decline serves as a reminder that even profitable, recognizable consumer brands can struggle on public markets when their multiple is set in a generous private round. Lime’s ability to come to market priced sensibly will matter more than the size of the deal.

Three factors will determine the bookbuilding. First, price talk. A target north of the 2020 mark is taken for granted. The more sensitive question is whether bankers can frame the unit economics in a way that defends a multi-billion-dollar valuation against a skeptical comparable set. Second, the primary versus secondary share mix. Lime needs growth capital, but Uber and other early backers will also want to take chips off the table. The split tells investors how confident the inside list is in the long-term story. Third, the calendar. Pricing in the second half of May would land alongside Fervo, ahead of SpaceX’s marketing window in early June. Later than that risks competing with the SpaceX overhang.

If the deal works, micromobility re-enters the public-market conversation seven years after Bird’s stumble. If it does not, Lime will become a private-market outlier whose financials look better than its peers’ but whose category still cannot find an investor base. The S-1 will be amended in the coming weeks, with terms and price talks to follow.