US e-scooter rental company Lime is to launch in Israel next month, "Bloomberg" reports.
Lime VP international expansion Caen Contee told "Bloomberg" that Lime will launch in "at least one, but mostly likely two cities" in Israel, within the next 30 days.
Contee added that Lime had been talking with Israeli mayors and other officials over the past three months and that a decision on which Israeli city will be first will be made in the coming few days.
"We’ve come to a general agreement on how we can deploy in a pilot phase," he said.
Earlier this month, Lime advertised for an Israel general manager, with responsibilities including recruiting a local team, leading marketing and policy efforts, and being responsible for regional expansion. The role is expected to be filled in the coming weeks, "Bloomberg" reported.
Lime, founded 18 months ago in San Mateo, California, has raised $467 million to date, about the same amount raised by Bird, its Los Angeles-based competitor, which began Tel Aviv operations over the summer.
Similar to shared bicycles, use of both Bird and Lime's electric scooters is through an app that scans a code and through which the location of a scooter available for use can be found. In order to recharge the scooter, both Bird and Lime employ collectors who locate and charge up the scooters before leaving them at collection points. The scooter collectors in Israel will be paid about NIS 30 per scooter.
Lime, initially called LimeBike, began with electric bike rentals and expanded to scooter rentals. It divides its rental products into two categories: Lime-E (bicycle rentals) and Lime-S (electric scooter rentals).
Lime, already has operations in 70 North American cities and six Western European cities and is also set to launch in Vienna.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 27, 2018
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