Shares in the electric bike and scooter rental company Lime, which is backed by Uber, advanced on its first day of trading following an initial public offering that raised $167 million.
The stock closed up 4%, having earlier surged as much as 15.8% shortly after the opening bell.
The listing extends a busy period for U.S. equity capital markets that began with the high-profile debut of SpaceX last month.
"I understand the excitement about solving problems on Mars... but we are solving real transportation problems here on Earth right now," said Lime's chief executive, Wayne Ting.
Lime's parent company, Neutron Holdings, sold 6.7 million shares at $25 each. The deal, underwritten by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Jefferies, values the San Francisco-based company at approximately $1.6 billion.
If shares sold by existing investors and the potential full exercise of underwriters' over-allotment options are included, the total proceeds could reach around $200 million.
Lime has become synonymous with so-called dockless electric bikes and scooters, which have become a popular alternative to public transport in cities like London and Paris, though not without controversy.
The nine-year-old company is one of the few survivors in a capital-intensive race that included rivals such as Bird, Voi, and Bolt. Since 2015, startups in the so-called micromobility sector have burned through roughly $10 billion in investment, with many going bankrupt in the process, according to McKinsey estimates.
Lime's total revenue grew 29% last year to $886.7 million, with monthly active users increasing 21% from 2024. Its net loss over the same period jumped 75% to $59.3 million. The United States and the United Kingdom are its two largest markets, accounting for 32% and 22% of revenue, respectively.
"It's always been a tough business," said Ting, who became CEO in 2020. "But Lime is the last operator standing... and we are still growing fast."
Lime's debut comes at a time of significant stock market volatility, as Wall Street attempts to separate potential winners from losers in the artificial intelligence boom. Many investors have sold software stocks in favor of companies with physical assets—a trend that has primarily benefited semiconductor makers like Micron and Sandisk but could also boost interest in Lime, whose business appears relatively robust compared to AI-focused ventures.
Despite spending $111 million last year on vehicles and other capital expenditures, Lime still generated $103.7 million in free cash flow. The average cost per e-bike or scooter is $1,300, including the battery, shipping, and other expenses, and it typically takes about a year to recoup that cost.
The company estimates the useful life of each vehicle at five years—a stark contrast to the industry's early days eight years ago when the average lifespan was as short as one month.
The listing follows the immediate surge and subsequent sharp decline in SpaceX's stock after its record-breaking IPO, which triggered a wave of trading frenzy among retail investors.
Both Anthropic and OpenAI have confidentially filed paperwork to go public later this year, with backers hoping these listings could value the two AI companies at over $1 trillion each.
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