Bird's collapse (2023)
Bird, once Lime's biggest rival and valued near $2.5 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was later sold for about $145 million. Other operators, including Superpedestrian and Helbiz, exited or were delisted the same year.
The shared scooter sector shrank fast, and investors soured on the whole category.
Survivors like Lime shifted to durable vehicles and tighter costs, treating the business as a utility rather than a growth story.
Lime's IPO is the flip side of Bird's failure. It tests whether the survivor's slower, cheaper model can win over public investors the market once burned.
