Lime begins life as a public company after years of uncertainty
Lime begins life as a public company after years of uncertainty
历经多年不确定性，Lime 正式挂牌上市
Micromobility company Lime has raised $167 million in its IPO, ending an almost decade-long run as a private company that saw wild valuation swings as it navigated multiple major hype cycles and a global pandemic. 微出行公司 Lime 在其首次公开募股（IPO）中筹集了 1.67 亿美元，结束了长达近十年的私营企业生涯。在此期间，该公司经历了多次行业炒作周期和全球疫情的冲击，估值也随之剧烈波动。
The nine-year-old scooter and bike company, which is backed by Uber, sold 6.68 million shares at $25 each, at the mid-point of its $24 to $26 price range. Shares started trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker “LIME” on Wednesday afternoon, jumping around 9% in the first hour. 这家拥有九年历史、由 Uber 支持的滑板车和自行车公司以每股 25 美元的价格出售了 668 万股股票，处于其 24 至 26 美元定价区间的中点。周三下午，该公司股票在纳斯达克证券交易所正式挂牌交易，股票代码为“LIME”，开盘首小时内股价上涨了约 9%。
The long-awaited IPO pegs Lime’s valuation at around $1.66 billion, just shy of the price fellow micromobility company Bird got when it merged with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021. 此次备受期待的 IPO 使 Lime 的估值达到约 16.6 亿美元，略低于另一家微出行公司 Bird 在 2021 年通过与特殊目的收购公司（SPAC）合并时获得的估值。
“Having that resilience and patience and belief and optimism that we will get through the toughest moments [has] really paid dividends over the long run, because there were many days, weeks, months, where I wasn’t sure if Lime was going to make it past the next three months, four months,” CEO Wayne Ting told TechCrunch in an interview Wednesday. “To be here today as a public company feels incredibly rewarding, and it took a lot of heart, sweat, and tears to get to this point.” “保持韧性、耐心、信念和乐观，相信我们能度过最艰难的时刻，这在长期来看确实得到了回报。因为曾有许多天、许多周甚至许多个月，我不确定 Lime 是否能撑过接下来的三四个月，”首席执行官 Wayne Ting 在周三接受 TechCrunch 采访时表示。“今天能以一家上市公司的身份站在这里，感觉非常有成就感，走到这一步付出了太多的心血、汗水和泪水。”
Lime has been considering an IPO for years. In 2021, following a $523 million funding round, Ting told TechCrunch the company was eyeing an IPO in 2022. He reheated the idea in 2023, saying that Lime was still waiting for the right market conditions. Ultimately, though, Ting said he only wanted to go public when he could prove to the market that Lime was a far more durable company than one like Bird. Lime 多年来一直考虑上市。2021 年，在完成 5.23 亿美元的融资后，Ting 曾告诉 TechCrunch，公司计划在 2022 年进行 IPO。他在 2023 年重提了这一想法，称 Lime 仍在等待合适的市场时机。不过，Ting 最终表示，他只想在能够向市场证明 Lime 比 Bird 等公司更具韧性时才选择上市。
“We felt like we needed to demonstrate we were going to be a self-sustaining, profitable, free cash flow positive business, and that only happened over the last three years, [where] we had three years of free cash flow positive results,” he said. “I think the timing is right, because the business is strong. We still have a lot of growth ahead of us.” “我们认为需要证明自己是一家能够自给自足、盈利且自由现金流为正的企业，而这一点在过去三年才真正实现，我们连续三年取得了自由现金流为正的业绩，”他说。“我认为现在时机成熟了，因为业务很稳健。我们未来仍有很大的增长空间。”
Lime needs the funds. In its IPO filing in May, the company expressed “substantial doubt” that it could continue as a going concern. Lime said it needs the IPO proceeds to help resolve around $1 billion in liabilities, more than half of which is due by the end of this year, though some of that debt is convertible. Without an IPO, Lime told prospective investors, it would need to find other sources of financing. Lime 需要这笔资金。在 5 月份提交的 IPO 申请文件中，该公司曾对能否继续作为持续经营实体表示“重大怀疑”。Lime 表示，需要 IPO 收益来帮助解决约 10 亿美元的负债，其中超过一半将在今年年底前到期，尽管部分债务是可转换的。Lime 告诉潜在投资者，如果没有 IPO，公司将需要寻找其他融资渠道。
Lime is riding that financial edge because the micromobility industry has proven to be fairly brutal over the last few years, even in the good times. Bird had to file for bankruptcy protection and restructure after it went public, and other competitors have either merged (Tier and Dott), been delisted from major exchanges (Micromobility.com), or gone out of business entirely (Superpedestrian). Lime 正处于财务边缘，因为过去几年微出行行业已被证明相当残酷，即便在行业景气时期也是如此。Bird 在上市后不得不申请破产保护并进行重组，其他竞争对手要么选择了合并（如 Tier 和 Dott），要么从主要交易所退市（如 Micromobility.com），要么彻底倒闭（如 Superpedestrian）。
Amid the chaos, Lime has managed to improve its revenue over the last few years. It generated $521 million in 2023, $686.6 million in 2024, and $886.7 million last year. The company also trimmed its losses from $122.3 million in 2023, to just $33.9 million in 2024, though that figure edged back up in 2025 to $59.3 million. (The company reported adjusted gross profit in 2025 of more than $400 million, when discounting costs like depreciation.) 在混乱中，Lime 在过去几年里成功提升了收入。其 2023 年收入为 5.21 亿美元，2024 年为 6.866 亿美元，去年则达到 8.867 亿美元。公司还将亏损从 2023 年的 1.223 亿美元缩减至 2024 年的 3390 万美元，尽管该数字在 2025 年略微回升至 5930 万美元。（该公司报告称，在扣除折旧等成本后，2025 年的调整后毛利润超过 4 亿美元。）
That growth has come largely from Lime’s ability to scale globally. It now operates in 230 cities across 29 countries. But the company is also somewhat dependent on Uber, which owns 24% of Lime and accounted for more than 14% of its revenue last year. (Uber allows people to book Lime rides through its app in some cities.) 这种增长很大程度上归功于 Lime 的全球扩张能力。目前，它在 29 个国家的 230 个城市开展业务。但该公司也在一定程度上依赖 Uber，Uber 持有 Lime 24% 的股份，且去年贡献了其超过 14% 的收入。（Uber 在某些城市允许用户通过其应用程序预订 Lime 的骑行服务。）
Ting said Lime’s focus on driving down unit costs and its ability to use software and machine learning to manage city-by-city operations are what helped Lime create a more financially sustainable business. And he said he only expects those advantages to improve now that Lime has access to the public markets. Ting 表示，Lime 专注于降低单位成本，并利用软件和机器学习来管理各城市的运营，这些因素帮助 Lime 打造了更具财务可持续性的业务。他还表示，随着 Lime 进入公开市场，他预计这些优势只会进一步增强。
“It’s more capital for us to invest in growth and expanding Lime, in investing back into our technology. I feel like a lot of the advantages that we have being the only skilled operator, the only profitable operator, is only going to amplify now that we’re public,” he said. “It’s a real game of inches business, and we’re constantly looking for this 1%, 2% improvement.” “这为我们提供了更多资金来投资于增长和扩张，并回馈到我们的技术研发中。我觉得作为唯一有能力的运营商、唯一盈利的运营商，我们所拥有的许多优势在上市后只会进一步放大，”他说。“这确实是一场‘寸土必争’的生意，我们一直在寻求那 1% 或 2% 的改进。”
Ting also said he believes being a public company will encourage more cities to partner with Lime. “I know a lot of cities don’t like the fact that they sometimes would bring an operator into the market and that operator will go out of business in six to 12 months. They want a long-term sustainable partnership, and now that we’re public, our financials are available to any city regulator looking to decide who’s going to be a good long-term partner,” he said. Ting 还表示，他相信成为一家上市公司将鼓励更多城市与 Lime 合作。“我知道许多城市不喜欢这种情况：有时他们引入一家运营商，结果该运营商在 6 到 12 个月内就倒闭了。他们想要的是长期可持续的合作伙伴关系。现在我们上市了，任何想要决定谁是长期优质合作伙伴的城市监管机构都可以查阅我们的财务状况，”他说。