Scooter shakeup: Bird to buy Scoot
S.F. startup being acquired by bigger rival
San Francisco startup Scoot, one of two companies with permission to rent electric scooters on its hometown’s streets, is being acquired by Bird, a much larger Santa Monica rival, the companies said Wednesday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Scoot will continue to operate under its name as a Bird subsidiary.
“We have pursued our mission of electric vehicles for everyone and showed cities that shared, electric mobility is a convenient, fun, and affordable way for citizens to get where they need to go,” Michael Keating, Scoot’s founder, said in a statement. “With Bird, our mission remains the same, but the scale at which we will pursue it, and the vehicles we will offer will be so much better for our riders and the cities we serve.”
More e-scooter mergers seem likely, as no company has anything unique to give it an advantage, said Jim McPherson, a Benicia lawyer and expert on micromobility. “In Los Angeles this past weekend, I saw over a half dozen stand-up scooter options — many right next to each other on the same corner,” he said. “The only difference between them was the color of their paint — and the apps used to hail them . ... Consolidation is inevitable.”
Under a 12-month pilot plan that runs until mid-October, Scoot and a San Francisco company called Skip have permission to offer streetrented e-scooters in the city. Initially, the two companies were limited to 625 each, a number that they can double if they meet certain benchmarks. Scoot has consistently offered far fewer than its permitted allotment, however.
“Today, (Scoot’s) stand-up scooters are used much less often than Skip’s, so Bird’s experience and know-how could improve that service significantly,” McPherson said.
Scoot pioneered hourly rentals of sit-down electric scooters in San Francisco starting five years ago with a fleet of red electric mopeds resembling Vespas that now numbers 650. It worked with city officials to craft a permit system before launching, generating goodwill that may have helped its application for the e-scooter pilot. Besides San Francisco, Scoot offers hourly rentals in Barcelona, Spain, and Santiago, Chile.
“We are thrilled to welcome Scoot to the Bird ecosystem and look forward to working with the Scoot team as we further scale our complementary missions — to replace car trips with micromobility options for all,” Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird, said in a statement.
The field of electric scooter rentals essentially sprang into existence over the past 18 months, and Bird and San Francisco’s Lime quickly became by far the largest e-scooter rental companies in the U.S. Both were rejected for San Francisco’s pilot program; city officials were miffed by their abrupt rollout of numerous scooters a year ago without permission.
Scoot’s San Francisco permits do not automatically transfer with the sale. However, the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency said it had approved continued use of Scoot’s permits for both the stand-up and sit-down e-scooters based on the companies’ promises to continue abiding by existing terms and conditions.
Another San Francisco escooter startup called Spin was acquired by Ford Motor Co. for $100 million in November. Uber invested in Lime and offers Lime scooter rentals in its app in some cities. Lyft, which bought bike-rental company Motivate last year, also offers e-scooter rentals in some cities.
Both Scoot and Bird are diversifying their offerings, McPherson noted. Bird recently unveiled an electric bike/ seated scooter without pedals that it calls the Bird Cruiser. Scoot has experimented with hourly rentals of the Scoot Quad, a small electric car made by Nissan. Scoot hopes to provide dockless electric bikes in San Francisco (although Lyft has sued the city over its plans to solicit new vendors for that program, saying San Francisco has reneged on an exclusive deal with Lyft/Motivate).
“It is becoming clearer that the predicted Cambrian explosion of new modes is progressing very rapidly,” McPherson said. “The number of ways to configure wheels, seats and electric motors is varied as the chair. Making new modes will not be difficult, but making money from the use of micromobility is the key challenge now.”