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Signature of an agreement with Lime
The Lime scooter rental company will partner with Uber to offer the world an unconventional mode of transportation.
Uber Technologies will invest in Lime as part of a US $ 335 million financing round, they plan to announce the companies on Monday. The agreement, led by GV, the venture capital arm of Alphabet, values the motorized skateboard sector for $ 1,100 million.
While details of the partnership are being finalized, Uber plans to promote Lime in its mobile application and place its logo on scooters, according to the leaders of both companies. Uber has made a similar partnership with a start-up called Jump Bikes, which rents electric bicycles, before acquiring the company for more than $ 100 million in April.
Uber said he planned to deploy electric bicycles in several cities around the world.
The Uber-Lime Alliance has implications for the electric scooter warfare getting ready
Since Lime's founding 18 months ago, the San Mateo, California-based company has raised $ 467 million dollars. Bird Rides. Based in Los Angeles, he has almost the same amount of funds. It was founded by Travis VanderZanden, a former Uber executive who adopted a similar aesthetic to his former employer: unlike Lime's bright color combination and his affable frames, Bird uses darker shades and its founder is a controversial figure. 19659007] 
Investors have recently evaluated the one-year-old VanderZanden company at 2,000 million US dollars. Lime said his service, which allows customers to rent electric scooters scattered in the cities and left on the sidewalk for the next person to collect, is available in more than 70 markets in the United States and Europe. The new box will be used to buy tens of thousands of light electric scooters.
Scooters are made in China according to the company's design specifications.
Brad Bao, a former Tencent Holdings executive who co-founded Lime, is proud of the company's investment in custom-made vehicles, rather than buying them in stores. However, there is an imminent threat of price increases given that the US It included scooters in a list of Chinese products likely to be subject to potential tariff increases. Lime said that he does not expect commercial war to impact his business.
"We chose the most difficult path," said Bao. "We are a company that requires a lot of capital."
The Lime badociation with Uber raises as many questions as answers about the scooter strategy of the company's shared travels. Uber has applied to San Francisco to launch its own electric skateboard service. "As a company, we are prone to self-annihilation throughout our history," said Rachel Holt, former director of the travel industry. Uber in North America, who is now leading the scooter and bicycle rental initiative with transit badociations. The executive said that Uber has reduced its original private travel business with a cheaper car-sharing service. "We will continue to redouble our efforts on the Jump acquisition we have made, and we have an expansive deployment strategy with which we are excited," he said.
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