Neutron Holdings: The Lime IPO on Nasdaq in 2026

Neutron Holdings is the name you may never have seen, but whose brand you've already crossed paths with on the pavement: Lime. On 22 June 2026, the company launched the roadshow for its IPO on Nasdaq, under the ticker LIME. It is the world's largest shared micromobility operator — those rental e-scooters and e-bikes — trying to become a publicly traded company. In this guide, I break down the real numbers of the offering, Uber's role, and why this debut matters for those building digital businesses.

TL;DR

Neutron Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of Lime and will list on Nasdaq under the ticker LIME.

Offering of approximately 6.96 million shares at $24–$26, targeting a valuation of up to $1.66 billion.

2025 revenue of $886.7 million (+29% year-over-year), but accounting loss of $59.3 million.

Uber enters as an anchor investor with up to $20 million — and has been a long-time shareholder.

At its core, the business is hardware, software, and data: proprietary fleet, computer vision, and AI in customer support.

What is Neutron Holdings (and why is it called Lime)

Neutron Holdings, Inc. is the legal name. Lime is the brand you see on the street. Founded in 2017 in San Francisco, the company rents e-scooters and e-bikes by the minute via an app in approximately 230 cities and 29 countries — as of 31 December 2025. It is this difference between legal name and brand that makes "Neutron Holdings" spike in searches: the name appears in SEC documents and tickers, while the public only knows "Lime". It is the same logic as Alphabet/Google or Meta/Facebook.

Lime positions itself as the largest shared micromobility platform in the world by number of trips. In 2023, it recorded 156 million rides — its annual record to date — and served approximately 19 million passengers throughout 2025.

From near-collapse to industry leader

It is worth remembering the context. Around 2020, the shared scooter sector nearly died: expensive capital, hostile regulation, and the pandemic brought down several competitors that promised to "reinvent urban mobility". Lime survived the "scooter wars", cut costs, and consolidated the market. The Neutron Holdings IPO is, in part, proof that a survivor of this shakeout has reached a scale that justifies going public.

The numbers of the Lime IPO on Nasdaq

Before any analysis, the facts of the offering. The table below summarises the terms disclosed at the start of the roadshow:

Item	Detail
Company	Neutron Holdings, Inc. (brand Lime)
Exchange / ticker	Nasdaq / LIME
Shares offered	~6.96 million
Price range	$24 to $26 per share
Estimated raise	up to ~$182 million
Target valuation	up to $1.66 billion (~$1.8 billion fully diluted at midpoint)
Coordinators	Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Jefferies
Anchor investor	Uber (up to $20 million)
Roadshow start	22 June 2026

Of the nearly 7 million shares, the majority (about 6.68 million) are issued by the company itself to raise cash; a smaller fraction is sold by existing shareholders taking advantage of the window to realise part of their investment. The full documentation is in the S-1 form filed with the SEC, essential reading for those who want to go beyond the headlines.

Adjusted profit vs accounting loss: the Neutron Holdings paradox

Here lies the most interesting part — and the one that most confuses those who only read the headline. Neutron Holdings grows quickly and generates operating cash, but still shows a loss on the balance sheet (GAAP). See the three-year evolution:

Year	Revenue	Adjusted EBITDA
2023	$522.0 million	$99.8 million
2024	$686.6 million	$153.4 million
2025	$886.7 million	$218.1 million

Revenue growing 29% per year and adjusted EBITDA more than doubling in two years is a healthy profile. So why the loss? Because adjusted EBITDA ignores exactly what weighs on this business model: depreciation of the proprietary fleet, interest on debt, and stock-based compensation. When you add it all up, the net result is negative — and worsening: the loss went from $34 million in 2024 to $59.3 million in 2025.

This mismatch between positive adjusted EBITDA and accounting loss is the metric every investor will scrutinise. It is not a boring accounting detail: it is the heart of the thesis. The question is whether Lime can dilute these fixed costs (fleet, maintenance, interest) as it grows, or whether they grow along with the operation.

Why Uber is a key player in this story

Uber is not a supporting actor. It is a long-time shareholder of Lime and, according to the IPO documentation, remains one of the largest investors — "riding shotgun", as one analyst summarised. Now it comes in again, as an anchor investor, committing up to $20 million to the offering.

Why does this matter? First, it signals confidence: an anchor investor that already knows the operation from the inside reduces the perceived risk for the market. Second, there is product synergy — Lime scooters and bikes appear within the Uber app itself in several markets, turning the mobility giant into a user acquisition channel for micromobility. It is the kind of integration that is worth more than the $20 million cheque itself.

Micromobility is a software and data business

It is easy to look at a scooter and see "cheap hardware". Wrong. Lime is, in practice, a technology and data company that happens to operate physical assets. And that is why this IPO matters to those working with digital products.

Lime Vision: computer vision on the pavement

The company developed Lime Vision, described as the first computer vision platform built by a micromobility operator. Using AI image detection, the system distinguishes pavement from roadway and can be calibrated to the specific surfaces of each city. In practice, it is technology to enforce correct parking and reduce friction with city authorities — the biggest regulatory risk in the sector.

AI in customer support: 77% faster

On the support side, Lime applied generative AI to handle more than 1.7 million tickets per year. The reported result: a 77% reduction in time to first response and automation of approximately 27% of cases arriving via email and web. It is the same move of bringing AI to the front line of operations that I detailed in AI agents for businesses — only applied to a physical operation of global scale.

Proprietary fleet and IoT

Unlike "asset-light" marketplaces, Lime designs and manufactures its own vehicles, integrates IoT and embedded software, and uses data to decide where to position each scooter. This vertical integration is what supports the operating margin — and also what generates the depreciation that eats into accounting profit. It is a classic trade-off: more control and more tied-up capital.

The $845 million debt that pressures the timeline

No honest analysis of Neutron Holdings ignores the liabilities. The company carries approximately $845 million in debt, with maturities approaching. Part of the rationale for the IPO is precisely to strengthen cash and gain breathing room to renegotiate or amortise these commitments.

This changes the reading of the offering. It is not a startup burning money to grow at any cost; it is a mature operation, EBITDA-generating, but with a heavy capital structure that needs to be addressed. The price of $24–$26 and the valuation of up to $1.66 billion must be evaluated with this debt on the radar, not just by the brilliant revenue at the top.

What the Neutron Holdings IPO teaches digital businesses

You don't operate scooters, but there are transferable lessons here — and they apply to any company selling digital services in Brazil.

Adjusted EBITDA is not cash in hand. Be careful when selling yourself (or buying a thesis) based solely on "adjusted" metrics. What pays the bills is the net result and cash flow.
Capex ties up growth. Models with proprietary assets scale differently from pure software. Know which game you are in before promising SaaS margins.
Technology is the moat, not the vehicle. Lime's differentiator is data, computer vision, and logistics — not the scooter. In any business, ask: what is the software layer that protects me from competition?
Capital patience exists. Lime took from 2017 to 2026 to reach the IPO, surviving a brutal shakeout. Restructurings and cuts are part of the journey, as we saw in the case of Atlassian and its bet on AI agents.

If you follow how major technology platforms position themselves for Brazilian companies, it is worth cross-referencing this reading with the Google I/O 2026 summary for businesses: the common thread is the same — AI moving from showcase to operational infrastructure.

Risks: what could go wrong on Lime's path

No IPO is just upside. The main risks for Neutron Holdings that appear between the lines:

Municipal regulation. Cities can limit, tax, or ban scooters overnight. It is a political risk, not predictable by spreadsheet.
Persistent accounting loss. As long as GAAP doesn't turn positive, the market will demand a clear path to real profitability.
Debt and interest. The $845 million needs to be managed in a credit environment that could tighten.
Seasonality. Micromobility depends on weather and tourism; harsh winter drops revenue.
Competition. Bird went bankrupt, but Tier, Dott, and local operators continue to compete for exclusive city-by-city contracts.

Acknowledging these risks is not pessimism — it is what separates an adult reading from an excited headline.

Conclusion: what to watch from now on

The IPO of Neutron Holdings is more than just another scooter on the stock exchange: it is the maturity test for the entire micromobility industry. If Lime debuts well on Nasdaq, with revenue of $886.7 million, robust adjusted EBITDA, and Uber by its side, it signals that the sector has finally found a financially defensible model. If it stumbles, the market will question whether shared scooters will ever generate sustainable accounting profit.

What to watch in the coming weeks: the final closing price within (or outside) the $24–$26 range, the stock's behaviour in the first trading sessions, and above all, the first earnings report as a public company — where the $59.3 million loss will have to show a downward trend. For those building technology, the most useful lesson of all remains: what looks like cheap hardware is almost always, underneath, a data business. And it is on that layer that the game is won or lost.