The scooter and bicycle rental service, which counts Uber and Alphabet as backers, is reportedly set to raise funding at a $2bn valuation.

Lime, the US-based scooter rental platform backed by on-demand ride provider Uber and internet and technology group Alphabet, is set to raise $400m in a new round, Recode reported on Tuesday.

The funding will “primarily” come from the company’s existing investors, according to people familiar with the matter, who said they would likely be joined by new participants including private equity firm Bain Capital.

The sources told Recode the round would value Lime at about $2bn pre-money, and that it will come in the form of a $300m first close followed by a $100m second tranche.

Formerly known as LimeBike, Lime runs an app-based electric scooter and bicycle rental service that spans more than 100 urban centres in the US as well as several university campuses and cities in Europe, Mexico, Chile, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

The company has so far raised $467m in funding since being founded in 2017, most recently securing $335m in a July 2018 round led by Alphabet subsidiary GV that reportedly valued it at $1.1bn.

Uber also participated in the July round, as did Uber, financial services and investment group Fidelity Management and Research, Coatue Management, GIC, Institutional Venture Partners, Atomico, Andreessen Horowitz and Fifth Wall Ventures.

Lime had previously closed a $120m round in October 2017 featuring NGP Capital, Fifth Wall, Coatue, Rainbow Technology, Andreessen Horowitz, GGV Capital, Section 32, Decent Capital, DCM Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Franklin Templeton Investments, Stanford-StartX Fund and The Durant Company.

Andreessen Horowitz led the company’s $12m series A round in March 2017, investing alongside IDG Ventures, the venture capital firm now known as Ridge Ventures, as well as DCM Ventures, Danhua Capital, Seven Seas, Immersion Ventures, Jason Zeng and Free Wu.

News of the prospective funding came days after reports that Lime’s biggest rival, Bird, was in the process of doubling its series C round to $600m, also at a $2bn valuation.

Photo courtesy of Lime.

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.