Uber And Others Invest $335 Million Into Dockless Scooter And Bike Startup Lime

Alphabet, GV, and Uber are among the investors who have invested $335 million into Lime, a dockless scooter and bike startup that raised $70 million just five months ago.
The San Francisco startup announced Monday that Uber made a “sizable investment” in the company as part of a $335-million funding round and that Uber customers will soon be able to rent a Lime scooter through the Uber app.
Lime’s main competitors in the U.S. are Bird and Spin, both of which have the financial backing of Silicon Valley venture capital firms. After raising $100 million a few months back, scooter startup Bird also raised $400 million last month.
Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, has expressed a desire to become the “Amazon of transportation,” as he told CNBC in a May 2018 interview. The ride-hailing giant also purchased Jump, a bike-sharing company, in April.
“Whether it’s taking a car, whether it’s taking a pooled car, whether it’s taking a bike, whether you should walk or even now we want to build out the capability for you to take a bus or subway,” Khosrowshahi said in the interview. “We want to be the A-to-B platform for transportation.”
Lime is available now in some 70 cities across the U.S. and Europe. With the help of Uber, Lime plans to expand into 100 more markets by the end of the year.