Tag Archives: scooter

Bird, an electric scooter company, declares bankruptcy

Posted on by
Reply

bird Submitted Under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Codecapping off a turbulent year for the electric scooter company.

in press release Bird confirmed today that it has entered a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet” and that the company is continuing business as usual in pursuit of “long-term, sustainable growth.” Announced.

Founded in 2017 by former Lyft and Uber executive Travis VanderZanden, Bird is one of many startups deploying dockless micromobility platforms around the world, helping city dwellers take short-term access to electric scooters and e-bikes. You will be able to pay for access. The company went public in late 2021 through a SPAC merger, but its stock price plummeted permanently in a crowded market built on questionable economics, and its market capitalization was $2 billion at its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) debut. It has fallen since then. Just up to $70 million 12 months later. The decline prompted the New York Stock Exchange to issue a warning that Bird’s stock price was too low.

Things didn’t improve, the stock price continued to fall, and CEO VanderZanden eventually stepped down in June. Delisted from NYSE During September.

Separately, Bird also announced a series of layoffs shortly after acquiring rival Spin for $19 million.

Bird lands on New York Stock Exchange

Bird lands on New York Stock Exchange image credits:Spencer Pratt/Getty Images

Chapter 11

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow Byrd to restructure its finances without disrupting its day-to-day operations, with existing lenders MidCap Financial, a division of Apollo Global Management, providing $25 million in financing through the bankruptcy process. will be provided.

The ultimate goal is to sell Byrd’s assets, and so-called “horse racing” agreements begin a bidding process aimed at extracting as much value as possible from Byrd, with Byrd’s lenders being Set a baseline bid before starting a deal with a potential suitor. over the next four months.

Interim CEO Michael Wasinusi will continue in his role both before and after the reorganization, the statement said.

“This announcement represents an important milestone in Bird’s transformation, which began with the appointment of new leadership earlier this year,” Washinushi said. “We are making progress towards improving profitability and aim to accelerate that progress by right-sizing our capital structure through this restructuring. We remain focused on our mission to make cities more livable by reducing volume, traffic and carbon emissions.”

It’s also worth noting that Bird’s Canadian and European operations are not included in the bankruptcy filing, and the company says it will “continue to operate as usual.”

This latest news comes just one day after rival MicroMobility.com was delisted from the Nasdaq due to low stock prices, and three years after the company also went public through a SPAC merger. And in Europe, dockless scooter startup Tia recently laid off 22% of its workforce following bankruptcy proceedings for Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof.

Overall, it hasn’t been a great year for the micromobility space.

Source: techcrunch.com

Cruise reduces self-driving workforce by 25%, another electric scooter startup leaves market, and a special year-end message

Posted on by
Reply

The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Just sign up here and click on “The Station” to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox every weekend. Subscribe for free. Welcome to the station. It is the central hub for all past, present, and future means of moving people and goods from point A to point B. Hello! And goodbye! Well, at least until 2024. The station will be closed for a while until the end of this year. I would like to thank everyone who reads our weekly newsletter and sends me suggestions, tips, and criticism. Yes, I appreciate the thoughtful backlash. This year has seen new startups emerge (so many electric boat and RV companies, right?), more EVs on the roads, and numerous commercial milestones achieved in the self-driving vehicle industry. It was a year of lots of movement. Of course, there were dark moments and even shocking moments. Many startups went bankrupt, including a number of mobility SPACs, and layoffs remained widespread into the final months of the year. Two of the most surprising stories involve the self-driving car industry. Argo AI It made a comeback with a new AV startup funded by Softbank, but cruise. Cruise’s story continues to unfold and will likely play out until 2024. Last week was a tough week for Cruise, albeit as expected. As a result, the Cruise board, and by extension the GM board, are doing a housecleaning to restore years of technological advances. As part of that mission, nine top leaders were removed and 900 workers were laid off. We will continue to follow Cruise’s story next year. But that’s not our only focus. The TechCrunch team cares about the future of transportation, from new EV and battery technologies to electric and hydrogen aviation, self-driving cars, micromobility, and in-vehicle technology. It’s not just about highlighting the next new new thing. Instead, we strive to explain why it’s important and who it affects. In other words, we’re the kind of people who take unlikely exits and side streets to explore what others might avoid. Please join us. See you in the new year! Want to contact us with a tip, comment, or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.karasec@techcrunch.com. Send your notes to tips@techcrunch.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, Click here to contact usthis includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps. micromobin The big talking point in Scooterville was the “seemingly” sudden decision. super pedestrian Just 18 months after raising $125 million, the company is closing its U.S. operations and beginning to consider selling its European operations. I don’t want to say I saw this coming, but given that in late November Superpedestrian began laying off several European executives responsible for global development and operations, Let’s just say I wasn’t shocked by the news. Superpedestrian’s Link scooters are available in about 60 cities in 11 countries, but are scheduled to be withdrawn from most markets by the end of 2023. The startup positioned itself as a partner for safe cities and invested in advanced passenger assistance technology by acquiring Navmatic in July 2021. That’s where Pedestrian Protection was born, Superpedestrian’s GPS-based safety system that could detect and correct unsafe rider behavior in real time. However, the system was competing with other camera-based computer vision systems popularized by Drover AI and Luna. Lime, the only big scooter company likely to survive, introduced its own version of rider-assistance technology on its scooters in July 2022, around the same time that Superpedestrian began cutting jobs. As the balance sheets of public companies Bird and MicroMobility.com (formerly Helbiz) demonstrate, shared micromobility is a difficult business to run properly. Bird has recently been kicked off the stock market, announced several layoffs and is likely close to filing for bankruptcy. MicroMobility.com has undergone not one but two reverse stock splits this year, and its stock price remains depressed. And after several failed acquisition talks, Tier Mobility also announced layoffs in November. Oh, and let’s not forget Boruto’s mysterious disappearance. My question now is who will be next to fly off to the great beyond? — Rebecca Beran This week’s sale We have lots of great deals this week! dimensional energy, a New York-based startup that develops sustainable aviation fuel from carbon dioxide emissions and water, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Envisioning Partners. Strategic investors include United Airlines Sustainable Flight Fund, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Rock Creek Smart Aviation Futures Fund, DSC Investments, Derek US, and New York Ventures, as well as Elemental Excelerator and Chloe Capital. Existing investors also participated. summer timea Chinese new energy vehicle fleet management company, has completed an $80 million funding round to fuel R&D investment and real-time computational analysis. exponential energyThe Indian EV charging startup has raised $26.4 million in Series B led by Eight Road Ventures and TDK Ventures. This funding will help Exponent expand its 15-minute charging solution to five major cities in India in FY2024 and enter the intercity e-bus segment. The company plans to deploy 1,000 charging stations and equip 25,000 EVs with Exponent by 2025. Ric the mobility-as-a-service startup has raised €1.4 million ($1.53 million) from Habert Dassault Finance, AfriMobility (Akwa Group), angel investors, and banks including Bpifrance, Crédit Mutuel, and Caisse d’Épargne. meta fuela sustainable jet fuel startup, has raised $8 million in a round led by Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures. Vanmo, a São Paulo-based startup looking to expand electric motorcycle battery swapping in Latin America, has raised $30 million in a Series A round to capitalize on the growing popularity of bikes across the region. The equity and debt round was led by Monasees, with participation from Climate Technology Fund 2150 and Maniv Mobility.

Source: techcrunch.com

Superpedestrian, a scooter startup, shuts down U.S. operations and explores selling its European operations

Posted on by
Reply

super pedestrian electric scooter
The startup known for its self-diagnostic software is shutting down its U.S.-based scooter-sharing business and considering selling its European operations, TechCrunch has learned exclusively.

Alexander Berg, the company’s director of U.S. operations, confirmed the news to his team on a Zoom call Friday afternoon. Berg said the reason for the closure was economic, but declined to provide further details. “Investors have also put in money to keep us going to this day,” he said on a conference call. “It’s not because I didn’t try hard enough.”

The closure comes as the startup raises equity and debt funding including investors from Jefferies, Antara Capital, Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, and FM Capital, in addition to existing backers such as Spark Capital, General Catalyst, and Citi. This comes just 18 months after the company raised $125 million in Series C funding. Via Citi Impact Fund.

However, since then, the electric scooter industry has been in a somewhat difficult situation. Bird’s valuation plummeted after its listing, and the company was forced to exit multiple markets.

Superpedestrian itself has experienced a series of layoffs, including one just months after the end of its Series C round. The latest incident happened earlier this month, according to a post on LinkedIn.

The company pulled out of Chicago in September, citing competitive difficulties, but said its scooters operate in more than 60 cities in 11 countries. A representative for the city of Waco, Texas, where Superpedestrian recently launched a scooter squad, said by phone Friday that he had no knowledge of the impending closure.

Superpedestrian used technology, specifically diagnostic and safety software, to differentiate itself from competitors like Bird and Tier. The company strengthened its technology efforts with the acquisition of Navmatic in July 2021.

Using Navmatic’s technology, we developed and deployed a so-called pedestrian protection safety system. This system is a feature designed to detect and correct unsafe riding behavior, such as riding on sidewalks, in real time. Superpedestrian had planned to build a new scooter with its own branded pedestrian protection features and roll it out to 25 cities in the U.S. and Europe in 2022. Initial rollouts were expected to begin in pedestrian-dense cities in the U.S. and U.K. by early spring, the company said.

The story is unfolding…

Source: techcrunch.com