In the competition for customers and efficiency, a full till remains a key element of the provider’s strategy.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Hamburg In 2019 they caused great controversy: At that time, the e-scooters of the sharing services hit the streets of German cities. In the meantime, many municipalities have found rules to limit fleets and assign them their own parking spaces – a sign that the business model is maturing. This also applies financially: the young providers are ready for the stock market.
While the US provider Bird already went public on Friday via a cloak, rival Lime has announced that it will go public after a last major round of financing for 2022. Even with the most relevant German player, Tier, the signs point to an IPO. This gives providers medium-term access to the capital market in order to continue to finance the expensive growth – and early investors can cash in.
Lime, which grew up as a partner in the apps of Uber and Google Maps, announced a financing round of over half a billion dollars on Friday. According to the announcement, exactly 523 million euros come together primarily through convertible bonds and to a lesser extent through loan financing. The main donors are the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Fidelity and the taxi service Uber. Lime works closely with Uber and has, among other things, taken over their jump e-bikes.
For the planned IPO in 2022, Lime is keeping an open response to a changed stock market environment: “We are planning to go public, at the same time markets are developing dynamically – that’s why we have not yet decided which path we will take next year”, explained a spokesman on request.
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The provider is active in 200 cities worldwide. Lime sees itself as the clear market leader: The next largest provider is only half the size, according to the press release. Lime wants to become a platform itself and has recently been integrating third-party providers into its app. The company also promises to be climate-neutral by 2030. Among other things, more durable vehicles should contribute to this. The change is already visible on the noticeable exchangeable batteries on the newer scooters and bicycles.
Money remains central
In the competition for customers and efficiency, a full till remains a key element of the provider’s strategy. That also drives Los Angeles rival Bird to go public. He takes the abbreviation over a so-called spac – a stock market jacket. The company has just merged with the Spac Switchback II and has been trading under the symbol BRDS in New York since Friday.
“We are planning a further expansion to cities of all sizes in the US and especially in Europe,” said CEO and former Uber manager Travis VanderZanden of the Reuters agency. In the deal, the company, which according to VanderZandens is active in nearly 350 cities, is valued at 2.3 billion dollars. $ 414 million will go to the company itself. Bird took over the German provider Circ last year.
Tier is also apparently preparing for the IPO. The Berlin company has recently started operating as a stock corporation (AG). There is now also a dedicated investor relations department. However, the money is still coming from venture capitalists: At the end of October, Tier announced that it had raised $ 200 million as the first step in a fourth major growth round (Series-D).
This is part of a bundle of corporate actions that also include loans. Tier sees itself as the best financed European provider with a valuation of two billion dollars. The money should flow into growth beyond the 150 existing cities, said the company, which has raised $ 660 million in capital since it was founded. Acquisitions are also possible. A number of small players come into question for this.
Tier: IPO long-term goal
“In the long term, an IPO is probably the natural and logical way, but there is no time pressure for us to go public,” said a Tier spokesman on request. There are no concrete plans yet: “With Softbank and Mubadala we have investors on board who will support us as a company in the long term.”
More: This is how Lime wants to get rid of its bad image.