Having become the world leader in shared scooters and electric bikes, the American Lime has just raised $ 523 million through convertible debt and a term loan.
These funds will be used to increase its production of latest generation machines.
The Gen4 scooter offers "
a wider handlebar for a more comfortable ride
", additional reflectors to improve the visibility of the driver and finally an identical battery for bikes and scooters.
"
This is a step that shows investor confidence that Lime is going to go public and we will use this as a launching pad to do so next year
," Wayne Ting, the Managing Director of Lime.
The leader has not yet decided if he would make a classic introduction or if he would go through a merger with a Spac.
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Bird, its Santa Monica-based competitor, has chosen to merge with a Spac and has just started listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Californian start-up is valued at $ 2.3 billion.
Uber, majority shareholder of Lime, participated in this new fundraising.
He invested in Lime as early as 2018 alongside Google as part of a $ 335 million fundraiser.
In May 2020, he once again put his hand in his pocket in a fundraiser of 170 million dollars.
Uber then took the opportunity to merge its car-sharing scooters and red bikes activities into Lime, known under the Jump brand.
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Since the spring and the end of confinements, urban micromobility operators have witnessed strong growth in their activity.
In 2021, Lime rolled out its services in 80 new cities, bringing the number of locations worldwide to over 200.
In France, it is present in Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Le Havre.
Its executives said the company, created in 2017, had become profitable in the third quarter of 2020.