GV, a corporate venturing vehicle for internet and technology group Alphabet, led a $310m series D round for US-based scooter sharing service Lime yesterday that also included Alphabet itself.
The round was co-led by venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP); Bain Capital Ventures, the VC arm of private equity firm Bain Capital; and Fidelity Investments, a subsidiary of financial services and investment group Fidelity.
Coatue Managment, DCM Ventures, Fifth Wall, GGV Capital, GIC, GSV Capital, FJ Labs, Bling Capital, GR Capital and St Augustine Partners filled out the round, which was closed at a $2.4bn valuation.
Lime’s electric scooter and bicycle rental platform operates in 15 countries across five continents, and it has signed up some 10 million users to its app across not only cities and towns but university and corporate campuses.
Toby Sun, Lime’s co-founder and CEO, said in a blog post announcing the round: “This new investment demonstrates the fundamental strength of our business and the increasingly rapid adoption of Lime.
“The new funds will give us the ability to expand into new markets, enhance our technology, strengthen the team and pilot new opportunities. We will also continue investing in two critical areas: rider safety and city collaboration.”
Lime has now received $777m in funding since it was founded, initially securing $12m back when the company was still called LimeBike, in an early 2017 round led by Andreessen Horowitz that included IDG Ventures, DCM, Seven Seas, Immersion Ventures, Danhua Capital, Jason Zeng and Free Wu.
Lime then closed a $120m series B in February 2018 featuring NGP Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Fifth Wall, GGV, Rainbow Technology, Decent Capital, Coatue Management, DCM, AME Cloud Ventures, Franklin Templeton Investments, Section 32, Stanford-StartX Fund and The Durant Company.
GV led Lime’s $335m series C round five months later, investing with Alphabet, ride hailing service Uber, Fidelity Management and Research, IVP, Andreessen Horowitz, Fifth Wall, Coatue Management, GIC and Atomico at a reported $1.1bn valuation.
Photo courtesy of Lime.
