The San Francisco-based operator of scooters and e-bikes, known as Neutron Holdings, is going public with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as joint book-runners. With $686 million in revenue projected for 2024 and two consecutive years of free cash flow, it boasts a financial profile unmatched in its category.
Lime, the Uber-backed shared scooter and e-bike operator, filed for a US IPO on Friday under its corporate name Neutron Holdings. Based in San Francisco, the company plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker LIME.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are spearheading the syndicate. Initially, pricing terms, share count, and target valuation were not disclosed.
The S-1 was filed at the end of a quiet period. The IPO market reopened in March after a spring slowdown caused by Middle East tensions and equity-market volatility, while a queue of AI-infrastructure, defense, and biotech companies worked through the process.
Lime is the first major urban-mobility name to test public-market interest since 2018, when peers Bird and Uber’s Jump unit attracted significant micromobility valuations.
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The industry Lime is entering has seen its share of difficulties. Bird filed for Chapter 11 in December 2023 after misstating ridership revenue and exhausting its SPAC cash. Tier laid off 22% of its workforce in 2024 before merging with Dott. Spin shut down.
Voi achieved EBITDA-positive in 2022 but has not gone public. The narrative around shared scooters in 2018 was hyper-growth, low margins, and regulatory limits. By 2024, two of those three factors were priced out of the model.
Lime’s filing presents a different proposition. The company reported $686 million in 2024 revenue, a 32% increase year-on-year, with positive free cash flow for the second consecutive year.
Lime claims to operate in 280 cities across approximately 30 countries, serving over 24 million riders in 2024.
According to the company, profit growth has outpaced revenue growth. Although not individually proving a public-market case, these data points together create a financial profile public investors can support without the need for an exaggerated TAM narrative.
Wayne Ting has served as chief executive since May 2020, succeeding Brad Bao following Lime’s pandemic-era restructuring.
The current business model focuses on contracts with cities (which purchase permits or limit fleet sizes), in-house fleet maintenance, and integration with the Uber app, which now lists Lime in over 55 cities worldwide.
Both aspects are important for equity: regulatory durability and a partner-driven distribution channel.
Uber as a Sponsor
Uber’s stake dates back to 2020, when it invested in Lime at a $510 million post-money valuation as part of a $170 million round and transferred its Jump bike-and-scooter business into Lime in the same transaction.
The IPO represents the first opportunity for Uber to establish its position at a public price.
Lime executives have indicated the company is targeting a significantly higher valuation than its 2020 mark, with bankers familiar with the process pointing to a target in the $4-5