BREAKING · ANSWER KEY
Lime went public still held by Uber’s six strings
July 1, 2026 · Nasdaq IPO, ticker LIME (July 1) × S-1
On July 1, the e-scooter company Lime listed on Nasdaq and began trading under the ticker “LIME.” The IPO price was $25 a share, for a market capitalization of about $1.6 billion at the offering price. This is a company whose valuation swelled to $2.4 billion in 2019, then sank to roughly $500 million the next year. After a turnaround, this is its first public offering; before it, there was no public market for the company’s stock at all.
A listing looks like the moment of standing on your own. But read the document Lime filed for the occasion — its S-1, the registration statement submitted to the SEC — and a picture far from independent emerges. One name appears in it with unusual frequency: Uber.
The six strings Uber holds
Lime looks like an independent mobility company. In reality, while taking the shape of an independent listing, it is tied to Uber on many sides at once. Assemble the facts scattered across the S-1, and the connection breaks into six strings.
Uber is a major shareholder holding about 22% even after the listing, and at the same time a sales channel generating about 14% of Lime’s revenue through the Uber app. It also holds the 2020 and 2021 convertible notes ($85.0M and $50.0M) as a creditor, backs a bank loan with a guarantee of up to $125.0M, and places its own President and COO on the board. For a single company to hold this many positions at once is rare even among public companies.
Revenue is growing. Yet there is “going concern” doubt.
The business is recovering. Revenue for 2025 was about $886.7 million, up 29% from the prior year. Lime holds about 48% of the US dockless (free-floating) share — the largest of the shared-mobility players that survived.
At the same time, the S-1 states a cold fact plainly. As of the end of March 2026, it owed about $845.8 million in principal repayments within twelve months, while its cash and equivalents on hand stood at about $261.3 million. The company writes that it does not currently have the liquidity to repay that. Its auditor also attached an explanatory paragraph on going concern to the audited financial statements for the year ended December 2025. The money raised in this listing is, before it is fuel for growth, a lifeline for that repayment.
The listing loosens one string
What’s interesting is that the listing changes the relationship with Uber a little. The bank loan up for repayment carries Uber’s guarantee. If the listing and a refinancing go through, Uber is released from that guarantee obligation. One of the six strings comes loose here.
Even so, the remaining strings — major shareholder, sales channel, two convertible notes, and a board seat — continue. Independence and dependence still sit together as Lime’s first day as a public company begins. The news reports the share price and the amount raised. But what kind of structure this company stands on — the filing says far more.
The whole of the six strings is in the S-1
The listing news is a snapshot of a single moment for this company. The full extent of the ties to Uber, the breakdown of unit price and cost, and the substance of the $845.8 million repayment obligation are all in the registration statement Lime wrote itself. In S-1 Journal, we read Lime’s S-1 through ten questions. Read on below.
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This is an explanatory piece based on Lime’s (Neutron Holdings, Inc.) S-1/S-1A (SEC EDGAR) and public information at listing (the June 30, 2026 pricing release and July 1 trading-open coverage). Uber’s stake follows the S-1/A (21.9% post-IPO), written here as “about 22%.” Post-listing share price and results are outside the scope of this piece, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security.