LimeBike Raises $12 Million to Make Bicycle Sharing More Accessible

LimeBike has raised $12 million. The Series A round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from IDG, DCM, Seven Seas, and others.

The Silicon Valley startup says it will use the venture capital to “revolutionize urban and campus mobility.”

LimeBike says that all of its bikes will be GPS-enabled, making it simple for riders to find and pick-up a nearby bike, and will have a dockless network to offer flexibility to its riders, saving them the time and hassle of having to return bikes to a docking station.

“Bike networks will hit a tipping point when we make bicycles widely available and universally affordable,” says Toby Sun, cofounder of LimeBike. “When we begin to have bikes within a couple of blocks and only pay a small amount to access them, we can turn the bicycle into a mass transportation network and redesign our cities for people instead of cars.”

Currently, only 2% of trips in the Bay Area happen on bicycles compared to 27% in the Netherlands. LimeBike says it envisions a day in which biking, in conjunction with existing public transportation, will be a true and compelling alternative to every day car transportation.

“We think it’s important to work together, identify the right bike program strategy for each region, and jointly add bike transportation as a widely used, and widely available option for getting around,” added Sun.

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