The Idea: In 2017, two former Tencent execs named Toby Sun and Brad Bao launched a dockless bike-sharing startup in San Mateo called LimeBike. Within a year, the entire micromobility industry pivoted into electric scooters - and the gold rush was on. Bird, Spin, Skip, Scoot, Jump, and dozens of other startups raised billions to flood city sidewalks with shared scooters. LimeBike pivoted with them, dropped the "Bike," and became Lime. By 2019 they were valued at $2.4 billion. By 2020 most of their competitors were either bankrupt or being sold off for parts. The category had imploded. But Lime kept their head down, operated profitably where rivals burned cash, and quietly became the last scooter standing. This morning they filed for IPO at a targeted $2 billion valuation. This was the beginning of Lime.

The Execution:

• 2017: Toby Sun and Brad Bao launch LimeBike in San Mateo with dockless bicycles, raising $12M from Andreessen Horowitz.
• 2018: They pivot from bikes to electric scooters mid-scooter-wars, joining Bird and Spin in flooding city sidewalks across the US and Europe.
• 2019: Lime hits a $2.4 billion peak valuation on the back of a $310M Series D led by Bain Capital, with riders in 80+ cities globally.
• 2020: As the category implodes during COVID, Uber leads a $170M down round at a $510M valuation - a brutal 79% writedown - but the deal includes Uber's Jump bikes/scooters business (which Uber paid $200M for in 2018) and an exclusive in-app integration with Uber Rides.
• 2023: Lime becomes free cash flow positive for the first time, generating $521M in revenue while Bird files for bankruptcy and most other rivals get sold off for scraps.
• 2024: Revenue hits $686.6M (up 32% YoY) with free cash flow positive for the second straight year, CEO Wayne Ting calls it "an exceptional year" with 24M+ riders.
• 2025: Revenue jumps to $886.7M across 230 cities in 29 countries, with $104M in free cash flow - nearly double the prior year.
• May 2026: Lime files its S-1 with the SEC, targeting a $2 billion valuation and a Nasdaq listing under ticker "LIME."

The lesson? When a category is melting down, the winners are rarely the ones with the most capital - they're the ones who can survive on the smallest amount of it. While Bird raised $766M and went bankrupt chasing growth, Lime took a 79% down round, partnered with Uber, focused on unit economics, and got to free cash flow positivity. Capital discipline beat capital abundance. The scooters everyone laughed at in 2018 are now an $886M business filing for IPO.