Lime, the US-based urban mobility service backed by corporates Alphabet and Uber, is seeking new funding at a $400m valuation, The Information reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The prospective valuation would represent a huge shave from the $2.4bn valuation at which the company last raised money, in a $310m series D round in February 2019 featuring both internet and technology group Alphabet and its GV investment arm.
Founded in 2017 as a bicycle-based offering called LimeBike, Lime runs an app-based service that allows users in 100 cities across the world to rent and pay for electric scooters.
However, the company began scaling down its service globally last week, in every market except South Korea, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has $50m to $70m in cash on hand according to The Information, and one source said that would only last a few months.
Discussions with potential investors are at an early stage according to one of the sources and will come in tandem with spending cuts that are expected to include staff reductions.
Lime had raised a total of $777m as of the 2019 round, which was co-led by investment and financial services firm Fidelity Investments, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP and Bain Capital Ventures, the VC division of private equity firm Bain Capital.
GIC, Coatue Managment, FJ Labs, DCM Ventures, Fifth Wall, GGV Capital, GSV Capital, Bling Capital, GR Capital and St Augustine Partners also participated in the series D round.
The company was valued at $1.1bn in a $335m series C round in mid-2018 led by GV and backed by ride hailing service Uber, Fidelity, IVP, Andreessen Horowitz, GIC, Coatue Management, Atomico and Fifth Wall Ventures.
Lime closed a $120m round in early 2018 featuring NGP Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, GGV, Coatue Management, DCM Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Franklin Templeton Investments, Section 32, Stanford-StartX Fund, The Durant Company, Decent Capital and Rainbow Technology.
Andreessen Horowitz led the company’s $12m series A round in 2017, investing alongside DCM Ventures, Seven Seas, IDG Capital Immersion Ventures, Danhua Capital, Jason Zeng and Free Wu.
Image courtesy of Lime.
