Lime races SpaceX and OpenAI to IPO as revenues soar
Lime, the Uber-backed e-bike giant, filed for a Nasdaq listing over the weekend, joining a growing cohort of tech giants racing toward public markets this year.
The Silicon-Valley based micromobility titan, known for its ubiquitous green bikes, plans to list on Nasdaq this year, following revenues jumping 29 per cent to $886.7m (£665m) in 2025, as demand for short-term e-bike rentals soared across major cities across the globe.
Its IPO places Lime beside a growing pipeline of long-anticipated listing candidates such as OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic and Databricks, as San Fransisco increasingly turns back toward IPOs to fund the next phase of fast-growing innovation.
The float will likely form a huge test for the micromobility sector too, which suffered years of steep losses and regulatory crackdowns after pandemic-era disruption and the collapse of rival Bird.
Lime, led by former Uber executive Wayne Ting, now operates across roughly 230 cities in 29 countries and says it has generated positive free cash flow for three consecutive years.
Despite the rapid growth, however, the firm remains loss-making, net losses of $59.3m last year and a further $61.3m during the opening quarter of 2026.
Lukeas Muehlbauer, research associate at IPOX, said: “Lime’s filing reflects both a better IPO market and a stronger company profile than in previous years”.
“The strong performance of recent listings has helped reopen the window for companies that can show convincing growth stories”, he added.
The company’s filing will likely expose the financial squeeze behind the IPO push, with Lime disclosing around $1bn in liabilities, including $846m due within the next year.
The e-bike operator also said it currently lacks enough liquidity to comfortably cover those obligations without raising fresh capital or restructuring debt.
London’s e-bike wars head to Wall Street
Lime’s bright green bikes have spread rapidly across London in recent years, boosted by tube strikes, rising commuting costs and demand for quicker cross-city travel.
Yet, the expansion has also fuelled mounting backlash over dumped bikes and fragmented borough licensing rules that have created what comedian Dara Ó Briain previously described as ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ moments across west London borough borders.
Lime previously told Morning Wire it wanted businesses to help tackle the capital’s growing e-bike congestion crisis by funding dedicated parking bays.
“We want businesses to step up and provide safe, clearly marked spaces for Lime bikes,” chief executive Wayne Ting told Morning Wire.
“It’s a simple step, but it makes a huge difference: it keeps bikes off busy pavements, makes cycling safer, and helps the city move more efficiently.”
The company has become increasingly tied to Uber’s ecosystem since the ride-hailing giant led Lime’s rescue fundraising round in 2020, which slashed the startup’s valuation from $2.4bn pre-pandemic to roughly $500m.
Uber still owns more than ten per cent of Lime, while around 14 per cent of Lime’s revenues last year came directly through Uber’s app integration.
But even as Lime pitches itself as a cleaner urban transport success story, the IPO filing underlines how exposed the business remains to city infrastructure and local politics.
One risk factor specifically flagged potholes and deteriorating roads as potential threats to vehicle durability and profitability.
The UK market alone accounted for more than 22 per cent of Lime’s revenues last year, making Britain one of its most important growth engines.