TechCrunch Mobility: Lime’s IPO gamble

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After years of hints and preparation, the Uber-backed electrical bike and scooter rental startup Lime filed for an initial public offering. A micromobility firm going public? In 2026? Absolutely it’s the flawed yr. 

Lime CEO Wayne Ting has been speaking about an IPO for years. TechCrunch spoke to him about it in 2020, 2021, and 2023. It by no means materialized and I form of forgot about it, till — growth — the S-1 doc, the registration assertion filed with the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee, posted early Friday morning. 

There are some attention-grabbing danger components within the S-1, though we nonetheless are ready for Lime to share phrases of the providing.

Income is climbing, it has constructive free money movement, and web losses narrowed after 2023, though there was a slight uptick between 2024 and 2025. Uber, which invested in Lime a number of years in the past, nonetheless performs an vital position for the corporate. Lime mentioned about 14.3% of its income got here via its partnership with Uber, which permits clients to search out and lease scooters and e-bikes via its app.

All of this means Lime is a development firm headed towards profitability. However there may be one substantial headwind. Lime has about $1 billion in present liabilities, and about $675.8 million of that’s due by the tip of 2026. In all, about $846 million is due inside 12 months. Lime doesn’t have adequate liquidity to pay that, based on its submitting. Lime states it plainly within the S-1: If it could actually’t go public and lift the mandatory capital, or change its debt agreements, it could not be capable of proceed working as a enterprise.

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane, who likes digging via an S-1 as a lot as I do, noticed another tidbits within the danger components. Funding by cities of their public highway infrastructure is a danger issue, based on the corporate. Lime particularly lists potholes, which made me chuckle after which nod in settlement. Potholes will not be variety to shared scooters. 

Lime additionally warned that a good portion of rides are concentrated in a comparatively small variety of markets by which it operates. One such market, which accounted for 22.2% of its income in 2025, is the U.Ok. 

A bit chicken

Final summer season, Uber introduced a plan to launch a premium robotaxi service utilizing Lucid Gravity autos geared up with Nuro’s autonomous automobile expertise. That is greater than a collaboration. Uber mentioned it might make investments $300 million in Lucid and would individually purchase “at the very least” 20,000 of the EV maker’s new Gravity SUV over the subsequent six years. Uber not too long ago raised its funding in Lucid to $500 million and pushed the automobile order to 35,000. 

The small print about Uber’s funding in Nuro, a privately held startup based mostly in Silicon Valley, have been slim — till now. On the time, we solely knew that Uber invested an undisclosed “multi-hundred-million-dollar” quantity into Nuro. One little chicken has shared extra particulars. 

Uber’s complete monetary dedication to Nuro, which incorporates its participation within the startup’s Sequence E spherical final yr and future milestone-based investments, is sort of $500 million, per a supply acquainted with the deal. 

My educated guess is that Nuro simply unlocked a kind of milestones. The corporate is testing the Lucid autos in autonomous mode with a human security operator within the driver’s seat. And final month it expanded testing to permit Uber workers to request an autonomous experience in a Lucid robotaxi with a human security operator nonetheless on board. However the firm simply obtained two vital permits — a driverless testing permit from the Division of Motor Automobiles and a allow from the California Public Utilities Fee.

Received a tip for us? Electronic mail Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Sign at kkorosec.07, or electronic mail Sean O’Kane at [email protected].

Offers!

Kodiak AI’s first-quarter earnings provides a case research for the way difficult it’s to commercialize frontier tech. The corporate introduced numerous offers that confirmed progress. It locked in a industrial contract with Roehl; launched a pilot program to check Kodiak-equipped autonomous vehicles at West Fraser Timber Co.’s log-hauling operations in Alberta, Canada; and introduced a collaboration with the army automobile maker Common Dynamics Land Techniques to create autonomous floor autos for protection functions.

However buyers weren’t proud of the phrases of its $100 million capital raise. The corporate offered shares at $6.50 every — a steep low cost from its closing share value of $9.10. The elevate additionally included warrants — devices that give buyers the best to purchase extra shares later at a set value, on this case as little as $6.

The financing got here from present backer Ares Administration and several other unnamed institutional buyers.

Kodiak’s inventory value fell 37% in after-hours buying and selling moments after the financing and Q1 earnings have been launched. Shares have recovered a bit since, maybe as shareholders digested the information and checked out it from a glass-half-full perspective.

Kodiak will seemingly want extra capital because it continues to burn money because it pushes towards its large objective: driverless trucking operations on public highways.

Different offers that obtained my consideration this week …

Second Power, a startup that’s developed a novel method to repurposing EV batteries, raised a $40 million Series B funding round led by Canadian VC agency Evok Improvements, with extra funding from grocery retailer fund W23, becoming a member of present buyers like Amazon’s Local weather Pledge Fund and In-Q-Tel, the CIA-funded VC agency.

Rocsys, a startup that has developed hands-free depot options for autonomous electrical autos, raised $13 million in an prolonged Sequence A spherical led by Capricorn Companions, with participation from Scania Make investments, Forward.One, SEB Greentech Enterprise Capital, and Graduate Enterprise.

Notable reads and different tidbits

Aurora has began hauling hundreds in driverless trucks in Texas for distribution big McLane. The industrial contract reveals some progress by the self-driving vehicles firm. Disclaimer: These driverless vehicles nonetheless have human observers within the cab, and the corporate tells us they can’t function the automobile. 

Lucid’s first-quarter earnings revealed an organization nonetheless feeling the consequences of a provider subject earlier this yr that brought on it to recall its Gravity SUV and pause deliveries. The corporate, which can also be going via a management transition, modified its steerage and mentioned it was now not certain how many EVs it will build or sell this year. 

In 2024, the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration up to date the New Automobile Evaluation Program and added 4 new pass-fail checks to evaluate the performance of advanced assistance systems, beginning in 2026. And we’re lastly seeing the outcomes. The later-release 2026 Tesla Mannequin Y is the primary automobile to satisfy the company’s new benchmark.

Ouster is launching a brand new lineup of color lidar sensors that CEO Angus Pacala believes will change cameras.

EV startup Slate has misplaced a notable board member. The pinnacle of Jeff Bezos’ household workplace left the board, based on quite a few state filings reviewed by TechCrunch.

Volkswagen is now Rivian’s largest shareholder, pushing Amazon out of the highest spot.

Yet another factor …

Properly, possibly two extra. 

Senior reporter Rebecca Bellan interviewed Aurora founder and CEO Chris Urmson not too long ago for the Fairness podcast. Listen to the episode here. 

And, lastly, we had a ballot final week! Right here was what I posed to readers: “The California DMV issued new guidelines for AVs. Self-driving vehicles can now take a look at and deploy within the state. Reporting, information assortment, and operations necessities have been expanded and regulation enforcement can subject visitors violations. These guidelines: go too far, hit the mark, or aren’t restrictive sufficient.” 

About 41% picked “hit the mark,” whereas 27.6% mentioned the foundations go too far, and 31% mentioned they aren’t restrictive sufficient.

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