Nowadays, shared scooters have become a common sight in cities all around the world. Lime was one of the first companies to offer shared scooters in the micromobility industry and it has by now become a household name.
But did Lime really transform the industry? Let’s take a look at the six factors from Kavadias, Ladas & Loch (2016) that define whether or not a company’s business model is transformative and apply them to Lime.
A more personalized product or service
Lime has achieved personalization by offering their scooters when and where people need them. This has been made possible by a wide distribution of the scooters, especially in bigger cities where they can often be found on every corner. Customers can easily check for the nearest scooter on the app and decide which one they want to use.
Closed-loop process
While Lime has introduced sustainability initiatives such as circular battery recycling (Lime, 2025), it is not a defining factor and the average consumer probably is not aware of them. Therefore, I would not count it towards a factor that has been defining for Lime’s success and their transformation of the industry.
Asset sharing
Asset sharing is at the core of Lime’s business model. Multiple people use the same scooter daily which reduces the costs for both the customer (as they don’t have to buy their own scooter) and Lime itself.
Usage-based pricing
Customers pay for the minutes they use the scooter. Similar to asset sharing, the usage-based pricing is an integral part of the company’s business model. Customers only have to pay for the amount of time they actually use the scooter.
More collaborative ecosystem
Lime is part of a collaborative ecosystem, though primarily on the customer-facing side (such as their integration into Google Maps) rather than within its own value chain. Therefore, I would not say that Lime fulfills this criterion.
An agile and adaptive organization
While Lime has been able to successfully adapt their business model in the past (for example by quickly introducing shareable scooters when the market called for it) it will be interesting to see how the company handles future threats, for example the rise of electric moped-sharing companies such as Check.
Looking across all six factors, Lime clearly embodies many aspects of a transformative business model. It fulfills 4 out of the 6 criteria presented by Kavadias, Ladas & Loch (2016). Therefore, it can be said that Lime has been truly transformative for its industry.
I think it would be interesting to think about how the future of micromobility might look and what the next big transformation will be. Feel free to let me know what your predictions are!
References:
Kavadias, S., Ladas, K. and Loch, C., 2016. The transformative business model. Harvard business review, 94(10), pp.91-98.
Lime. (2019). Enhanced Lime, Google Maps integration sets sights on improving city commutes. Lime. https://www.li.me/blog/enhanced-lime-google-maps-integration-improving-city-commutes
Lime. (2025). Powering a sustainable future: Lime partners with Redwood Materials for circular battery recycling. Lime. https://www.li.me/blog/powering-a-sustainable-future-lime-partners-with-redwood-materials-for-circular-battery-recycling
I think you made a great breakdown of Lime’s business model. I like that you looked at all 6 factors and said whether it fits Lime’s strategy or not. It really seems that Lime is a true disruptor of its industry since it checks 4 out of 6 boxes. Although I think Lime has a very high potential, I personally think the future lies within the multimodal platforms where one app would combine scooters, (e-)bikes, moped and maybe even public transport and car sharing. Maybe Lime will expand to provide such services too
Sina loved your in-depth analysis, I think also think that Lime has somewhat disrupted the market by offering commuters a new way of transportation, as well as providing tourists a new fun way to explore cities. Although it has been an interesting presence in the market, I do not have certainty about its success in the future. Despite being innovative, it is still very hard to position itself as the main source of transportation, specially in big cities, where bikes could easily take over the majority of the customers. I feel that there could be a need for an aggressive marketing campaign and partnership deals where Lime could position itself within tourist groups, city guides, as a standard way to visit a city replacing a bus. I also think that it could be marketed as a commute to work, installing more stations and expand its fleet in order to address the demand to avoid users suffering from a possible negative network effect. Overall, I feel that Lima has potential, it just needs to grow to attend certain market needs and re-invest heavily on marketing to position itself as a main transportation model in eco-friendly medium/small cities.