TechCrunch Mobility: Lime’s IPO Gambling

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After years of tips and preparations, Uber-backed electric bike and scooter rental startup Lime has filed for an initial public offering. Will micromobility companies go public? In 2026? It’s definitely a different year.

Lime CEO Wayne Ting has been talking about an IPO for years. TechCrunch spoke to him about this in 2020, 2021, and 2023. That never happened, and I forgot about it until — boom — the S-1 document, a registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was posted early Friday morning.

The S-1 has some interesting risk factors, but we’re still waiting for Lime to share its offer terms.

Revenues are increasing, free cash flow is positive, and net losses narrowed from 2023 onwards, but increased slightly from 2024 to 2025. Uber, which invested in Lime several years ago, remains a key player for the company. Lime said about 14.3% of its sales come from its partnership with Uber, which allows customers to find and rent scooters and electric bikes through the company’s app.

All of this suggests that Lime is a growing company aiming for profitability. But there is one major headwind. Lime’s current liabilities are approximately $1 billion, of which approximately $675.8 million are due by the end of 2026. In total, approximately $846 million is due within 12 months. Lime doesn’t have enough liquidity to make that payment, according to the filing. Mr. Lime states clearly in his S-1. If we are unable to raise the necessary capital by going public, or if we are unable to modify our debt agreements, we may not be able to continue operating as a company.

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane, who likes to scrutinize the S-1 as much as I do, found several other points of risk factors. The company says cities’ investment in public road infrastructure is a risk factor. Lime specifically mentioned potholes, and I chuckled and nodded in agreement. Potholes are bad for shared scooters.

Lime also warned that the majority of its rides are concentrated in a relatively small number of markets in which it operates. One such market is the UK, which will account for 22.2% of revenue in 2025.

small bird

Last summer, Uber announced plans to launch a premium robotaxi service using Lucid Gravity vehicles powered by Nuro’s self-driving technology. This is more than a collaboration. Uber has announced it will invest $300 million in Lucid and purchase “at least” another 20,000 of its new Gravity SUVs over the next six years. Uber recently increased its investment in Lucid to $500 million, pushing vehicle orders to 35,000 vehicles.

Details about Uber’s investment in Nuro, a privately held startup based in Silicon Valley, were previously unknown. At the time, all we knew was that Uber had invested an undisclosed amount of “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Nuro. A small bird gave us more information.

The total funding Uber has committed to Nuro is close to $500 million, including participation in the startup’s Series E round last year and future milestone-based investments, according to sources familiar with the deal.

My educated guess is that Nuro has just unlocked one of those milestones. The company is testing Lucid vehicles in autonomous mode with a human safety operator in the driver’s seat. And last month, the company expanded its testing to allow Uber employees to request an automated ride in a Lucid robotaxi with a human safety operator on board. But the company just received two important permits: an unmanned test permit from the Department of Transportation and a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission.

Have a tip? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.Korosec@techcrunch.com, email my Signal at korosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Great deal!

Kodiak AI’s first quarter earnings provide a case study of how difficult it is to commercialize frontier technologies. The company has announced a number of transactions that demonstrate progress. Signed a commercial agreement with Roehl. West Fraser Timber’s log transportation operations in Alberta, Canada, have begun a pilot program to test self-driving Kodiak trucks. The company announced a partnership with military vehicle manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems to develop autonomous ground vehicles for defense applications.

However, investors were not satisfied with the terms of the $100 million capital increase. The company sold the stock for $6.50 per share, a significant discount from the stock’s closing price of $9.10. The increase also included warrants, which give investors the right to buy additional shares later at a set price, in this case a minimum of $6.

The funding came from existing backer Ares Management and several anonymous institutional investors.

Kodiak’s stock price fell 37% in after-hours trading moments after the fundraising and first-quarter earnings announcement. The stock price has since recovered a bit, perhaps as shareholders took in the news and looked at it from a glass-half-full perspective.

Kodiak will likely need more capital as it continues to spend money on its big goal of driverless trucking on public roads.

Other sales that caught our attention this week…

Moment Energy, a startup that has developed a novel approach to reusing EV batteries, has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Canadian VC firm Evok Innovations, with additional funding from grocery retailer Fund W23, joining existing investors including Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and CIA-backed VC firm In-Q-Tel.

Rocsys, a startup that has developed a hands-free warehouse solution for self-driving electric vehicles, has raised $13 million in an expanded Series A round led by Capricorn Partners with participation from Scania Invest, Forward.One, SEB Greentech Venture Capital, and Graduate Venture.

Notable reads and other trivia

Aurora has started transporting packages with driverless trucks in Texas for distribution giant McLean. The commercial deal marks some progress by the self-driving truck company. Disclaimer: These driverless trucks still have a human observer in the cab, and the company says you can’t drive the vehicles.

Lucid’s first-quarter results revealed that the company is still feeling the effects of supplier issues earlier this year, which caused it to recall its Gravity SUV and suspend deliveries. The company, which is also undergoing a leadership change, changed its guidance and said it no longer knows how many EVs it will make or sell this year.

In 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration updated its New Vehicle Evaluation Program to include four new pass/fail tests to assess the performance of advanced assistance systems starting in 2026. And finally, the results are visible. The 2026 Tesla Model Y, which will be released later, will be the first vehicle to meet the agency’s new benchmarks.

Auster is launching a new line of color lidar sensors that CEO Angus Pacala believes will replace cameras.

EV startup Slate has lost a prominent board member. The head of Jeff Bezos’ family office has left the company’s board of directors, according to numerous state filings reviewed by TechCrunch.

Volkswagen is now Rivian’s largest shareholder, knocking Amazon out of the top spot.

One more thing…

Well, maybe two more.

Senior reporter Rebecca Beran recently interviewed Aurora founder and CEO Chris Urmson on the Equity Podcast. Listen to the episode here.

And finally, last week we had the vote! What I presented to my readers is: “The California Department of Transportation has issued new rules for self-driving vehicles. Self-driving trucks can now be tested and deployed in the state. Reporting, data collection, and operational requirements are expanded to help law enforcement enforce traffic violations. These rules go too far, are too far-fetched, or are not restrictive enough.”

About 41% said they were “on point,” 27.6% said the rules went too far, and 31% said they weren’t restrictive enough.

To participate in the survey, sign up to receive the Mobility Newsletter in your inbox.