Uber is reportedly leading a $170M investment in (desperate) Lime

Not the good Corona & Lime combo... You used to see people with wind-swept hair cruising on Lime scooters, which littered sidewalks and street corners in flocks of neon green. Now, not so much. Lime has seen its business evaporate through the course of the pandemic — now it might be getting juiced by Uber:

• Come-Up: Lime is the 2nd fastest startup to have reached unicorn status, after its scooter peer/frenemy Bird. Love them or hate them, scooters were hot venture capital fodder.
• Come-Down: In March, Lime voluntarily suspended service in almost all its locations, laid off almost 20% of its staff, and only had around $60M in cash left out of $700M raised.
• Come-Downer: Uber is reportedly in talks to lead a $170M investment in Lime that would slash Lime's valuation by almost 80% compared to its last one (from $2.4B to just $510M).

Scooting my way DownRound... Money raised in a down round reduces a company's valuation because shares are offered at a lower price than they were in the previous funding round — it's kind of a desperate move, and Uber's squeezing it for what it's worth:

• Uber already owns a small stake in Lime, but under this fundraise it would get to significantly up its control (at a big discount).
• Uber would get to transfer its uber-unprofitable Jump line of e-scooters/bikes to Lime, offer both services in its app, and eventually get the option to buy out Lime at a set price in a few years.