Bird

Bird was founded in September 2017 by Travis VanderZanden, formerly an executive at Lyft and at Uber. It had its Series A round of funding in February 2018, raising $15 million led by Craft Ventures; this was followed by a Series B round in March for $100 million, led by Index Ventures and Valor Equity Partners, and a venture round in May for $150 million from Sequoia Capital, becoming the fastest company to ever reach the $1 billion "unicorn" valuation. In June 2018, Bird raised an additional $300 million, valuing the company at $2 billion.

In September 2018, Bird claimed 10 million rides.

In October 2018, Bird announced its Bird Zero vehicle. The Bird Zero was designed for ride sharing with "more battery life for longer range, better lighting for increased visibility, and enhanced durability for a longer life-span."

In November 2018, Bird released the Bird Platform, a program based on the company's mobile app and Bird Zero vehicles that allowed independent operators to use Bird's infrastructure to run their own fleet of shared, branded electric scooters.

In January 2019 Axios reported that Bird was raising $300 million in new funding led by Fidelity as an extension of its C funding round.

On June 12, 2019, Scoot Networks was acquired for an undisclosed value as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bird. The deal was expected to be valued at around $25 million in a combination of cash and stock. The acquisition was to allow Bird to operate shared electric scooters in San Francisco.

In November 2019, Bird launched the "Helmet Selfie" safety feature to incentivize riders into wearing helmets when using Bird vehicles. Users can submit a self-portrait photo of themselves wearing a helmet through the app, and receive future ride credits.

Bird initially responded to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic by increasing cleaning and sanitizing efforts in March 2020. Later that month, Bird scaled down operations (reportedly even suspending them within all markets), and terminated around 40% of its then about 1060 employees in a group Zoom meeting. The company halted operations in six US cities (San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Portland, Miami, and Coral Gables), as well as European markets, including Annecy, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Krakow, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Munich, Paris, Rimini, Sevilla, Stockholm, Torino, Verona, and Vienna.

Controversies

Putting franchisees into debt

When Bird began marketing its franchise opportunities to operations staff and fleet managers, it ended up putting some workers $40,000 in debt. The franchisees do not own the scooters they obtain from Bird and are liable for repayments even when scooters are lost or stolen.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Scooters were initially banned in Milwaukee when Bird Rides Inc. started their scooter business without government permission. Wisconsin's Governor Tony Evers signed a bill on July 11, 2019, regulating scooters. The Milwaukee Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett banned Bird Scooters from operating in the city and passed an ordinance giving law enforcement permission to impound scooters. They also sued the scooter company.

In May 2019 Bird reached a settlement with the city of Milwaukee regarding the lawsuit. The following August, Milwaukee's Department of Public Works announced it would allow Bird to operate in the city again.

San Francisco, California

In September 2019, the city of San Francisco announced the four permit holders that would be able to operate. Operators were able to submit an application and the city down-selected based on several criteria, including safety. Bird was one of the selected operators through its subsidiary Scoot.

Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington, initially banned scooter shares, and city law barred the use of motorized foot scooters on sidewalks and bicycle lanes. Mayor Jenny Durkan announced in May 2019 that her administration would soon begin crafting a pilot program for scooter sharing. In September 2020, the Seattle City Council approved legislation allowing free-floating rentable scooters, which riders may use in bike lanes and on roads, and the city's transportation department planned to issue permits to three companies for a total of 1,500 scooters, possibly growing to 6,000. In 2026, Lime became the only operator in the city's bike- and scooter-share program following the exit of competitors including Bird.

Accidents and deaths

Bird electric scooters have been involved in some accidents and deaths.