In IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast series, IVP investors talk with CEOs from the fastest growing companies to understand the ins and outs of company building in the hyper-growth environment.
In our fifth episode, IVP's Louisa Xu sits down with the co-founder and CEO of Lime, Toby Sun, to talk about his inspiration behind the company's founding, the importance of growth versus profitability, how to get a hardware business right and the cause and effect of the micro-mobility generation.
As people continue to be drawn toward the urban dream and urban populations grow, new modes of transportation like the scooter have emerged to solve the last mile problem. Companies like Lime, in a little under two years, have carved out a new way to get from point A to B. Scooter sharing not only reduces the time involved in driving, parking, or taking public transit, it also reduces carbon emissions. A global win.
Founded in 2017, Lime is now the world's largest scooter sharing company, reaching over 50M trips (up from 30M+ on the recording day) across 100 markets globally. Co-founder and CEO Toby Sun, who grew up in China's fourth largest city, Shenzhen (which is often called China's Silicon Valley), started crafting the vision for Lime early in his urban childhood.
Toby's journey took him from China to the United States where he eventually met Lime's co-founder, Brad Bao, through the Berkeley MBA network. Working together initially as investors, the two recognized their shared interest in solving the last mile transportation problem and decided to partner up. Together, they created Lime, and here's what they have learned along the way.
It Doesn't Have To Be A Trade-off Between Growth and Profitability It will be hard for us to optimize anything before we have a certain scale.
In the last two years, Lime has launched products in over a hundred markets in over 20 countries, netting over 50 million trips. Their success came from a strong product-market fit demonstrated early and quickly, through tests in many locations to understand the operational sweet spot.' This rapid expansion didn't come at the expense of profitability. Instead, the learnings from rapid growth can lead to profitability if applied properly.
Learning from the company's growth in-house versus using an outsourced operations team has allowed the company to reap additional economies of scale. Once a critical scale is reached, there is a much larger playground with which to experiment. And, the longer Lime operates in more markets, the more experimentation opportunities emerge.
Invest In The Hardware Team and Supply Chain Hardware is hard.
To do hardware right and build quickly, it takes significant capital, strong partnerships and great teams to keep momentum strong. It also takes the right relationships to expedite building prototypes. Lime was able to take advantage of their connections in China's hardware ecosystem, such as the prototyping hubs like Shenzhen. Navigating these markets takes time and resources, so the more inroads, the better. Lime's bi-lingual and China/US founding team helped - and they used this advantage to quickly and efficiently build, prototype and ship.
Lime learned that more markets equal more people who provide more feedback. That feedback leads to improved products and an ongoing positive feedback loop. And that continues to propel a company like Lime above its competitors.
Think About Multiple Cases To Address Audiences. One Size Does Not Fit All. The product should serve a purpose to service the two kinds of audiences at the same time.
Local insights and approaches are important, especially for a company like Lime. And the technology that allows this to happen must be tailored appropriately to each area, so the experience makes sense on a local level. In Lime's case, each city's infrastructure, the broader IoT network, and the anonymously-collected usage data are all important variables.
As the scooter craze continues to grow globally, so too does the understanding and significance of the term micro-mobility. Lime is at the forefront of this massive trend.
The full transcript is below.
To hear more, listen on iTunes or SoundCloud.
TRANSCRIPT Narrator: Welcome to IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast. In this series, we talk with CEOs of the fastest-growing companies and discuss the ins-and-outs of company building in the hyper-growth environment. If you like what you hear, consider following us on SoundCloud or subscribing to our podcast on iTunes. Thanks, and enjoy the show.
Louisa: Welcome everyone. I'm Louisa Xu, an investor at IVP. We're a venture firm focused on high growth later-stage tech companies and we've had the privilege of investing in some of the fastest growing tech companies of the last decade including AppDynamics, Dropbox, Twitter, GitHub and of course Lime. Today I have Toby Sun, CEO of Lime joining me. Toby founded Lime in 2017 and he's now leading the world's largest electric scooter sharing company. And one of the fastest growing companies of all time. If we rewind to just two years ago when the first wave of electric scooters started to emerge in the US, people dismissed them as a toy or a mere fad, but the data we've seen suggests there's a lot more to the story than that. In its short history, Lime has already reached over 30 million trips across 100 markets globally. I'm excited about the potential impact of Lime in the broader micro-mobility ecosystem. Today we're going to learn from Toby about how he got the company started, how he thinks about the long-term drivers of the business, and what he has learned along the way. Thanks for joining me today Toby.
Toby: Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.
Louisa: So, to set the stage, could you tell us about how you and
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical invest...
08/05/2026
COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content
Brie Clayton May 7, 2026
0 Comments
UGC, On-Camera Video Content
April 17, 2026Documentary Editor - US,......
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
In IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast series, IVP investors talk with CEOs from the fastest growing companies to understand the ins and outs of company building in the hyper-growth environment.
