INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Yesterday, we learned that 18-month-old, Bay Area-based electric scooter rental company Lime is joining forces with the ride-hailing giant
Uber, which is both investing in the company as part of a $335 million round and planning to promote Lime in its mobile app
At least, Uber struck a similar arrangement with the electric bike company JUMP bikes before spending $200 million to acquire the company
cookedAt first glance, it would appear so
competitor, Lyft, as Uber battled one scandal after another
about.A related issue for Bird is its relationship with Lyft, which .
company.Where that leaves Bird is an open question, but people familiar with both Bird and Lime suggest the e-scooter war is far from
Then again, Sequoia is also an investor in Uber, having acquired a stake in the company earlier this year
And alliances are generally temperamental in this brave new world of transportation
recently resolved a lawsuit with Uber.Another wrinkle to consider is the exposure that Lime receives from Uber, which could prove
First, by agreeing to allow Uber to apply its branding to its scooters, Lime will be diluting its own brand
subsidiary.Further, Uber does not appear to have made any promises to Lime in terms of how prominently its app is featured within its own
mobile app, which already crams in quite a lot, from offering free ride coupons to featuring local offers to promoting its Uber Eats
Uber might have thought that a coup, too, at the time
But last summer, Google quietly removed the feature from its iOS app, and it removed the service from Android just last month
than with its own ability to execute
Yesterday afternoon, Roelof Botha, a partner at Sequoia and a Bird board member, declined to discuss the Lime deal, instead emailing one
