DURBAN - Lime, an e-scooter company has secured $335 million in investments from various companies including Uber.
Uber, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Alphabet, Fidelity, IVP and Atomico have invested in the company that was launched just last year January.
The co-founders of Lime said in a blog post that the successful funding round will result in Joe Kraus of GV joining the company's board. They also said that they will start working with Uber to co-brand the scooters and that the scooters will now be available through the ride-sharing app.
Rachel Holt, the Vice President and Head of New Modalities for Uber, said that the investment is a step in the right direction towards their vision of becoming a "one-stop shop for all your transportation needs.
Also, this year Uber acquired Jump Bike, a bike sharing company.
For Lime, the investment may be the ideal opportunity for the company to expand to new cities.
Uber is also in a race to be the most ubiquitous provider of transportation in cities.
Uber competitor Lyft has also entered the bike and scooter share market by obtaining the biggest North American bike rental operator, Motivate.
Uber controversy
A senior Uber executive resigned WHEN? after a probe into how she handled allegations of racial discrimination at the company.
Liane Hornsey resigned from the ride-sharing company after she had been with the company for 18 months. Hornsey was in charge of the Human Resources Department at the company and her title was Chief People Officer.
The executive previously worked for Google.
In 2017, the co-founder of Uber Travis Kalanick resigned from his position as CEO of the company following reports of gender discrimination and sexual harassment surfaced about the company.
However, Kalanick is still an Uber board member.
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