<article>US-based e-scooter startup Lime on Friday announced that it will withdraw its application for a sandbox license in Singapore, throwing its future expansion in the city-state into question.</article>

US-based e-scooter startup Lime on Friday announced that it will withdraw its application for a sandbox license in Singapore, throwing its future expansion in the city-state into question.
According to a statement by Wayne Ting, Global Head of Operations and Strategy at Lime, the company is &#8220;reprioritising&#8221; efforts to meet the fast growing and strong demand for micromobilty globally.
He added that Lime will withdraw its application for a sandbox license with the Land Transport Authority of Singapore &#8220;in the short term&#8221;.
Lime had in April said that it picked Singapore to be its Asia Pacific headquarters, with a new central business district-located office to open in Q3 this year. The plan was to expand Lime&#8217;s local capabilities in government relations, partnerships, brand and operations.
The American e-scooter startup had also recently invested in R&amp;D for new-scooter models, even test-bedding some of its electric scooters with Singaporean real estate company Ascendas-Singbridge Group last November.
When asked if Lime will continue to operate its Asia headquarters from Singapore, the startup said it was unable to confirm or deny this. Lime, however, said that it will maintain its corporate support team in Singapore, expressing &#8220;unwavering&#8221; commitment to the region.
Ting said: “We look forward to continue working with the LTA and delivering convenient and affordable transportation options to the people of Singapore in the future.&#8221;
Back in the US, Lime is facing stiff competition from Bird, another US-based e-scooter unicorn. In January this year, both Lime and Bird were reported to have their valuations downsized to $2 billion from over $3 billion in late-2018.
City governments are ramping up control over the number of e-scooters plying pedestrian walkways. Both companies also face an influx of rivals offering similar services in multiple markets. Lime itself operates in more than 100 cities across at least 20 countries.
Lime recently hired a former Morgan Stanley senior executive as CFO to take charge of its fundraising. Over the last two years, Lime has raised more than $770 million from investors such as Alphabet Inc&#8217;s GV, Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures. It is also backed by Uber.

The company said it is "reprioritising" expansion efforts to meet the fast growing and strong demand for micromobilty globally.

E-scooter startup Lime withdraws application for sandbox license in SG

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E-scooter startup Lime withdraws application for sandbox license in SG

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