Bird

Bird runs shared electric scooters and e-bikes that riders unlock with an app, and works with cities on permits, parking and operations. Travis VanderZanden, a former executive at Lyft and Uber, founded it in Santa Monica, California in September 2017. It helped create the shared scooter category in the US. Bird Global later moved its base to Miami, and its fleet now serves about 100 cities. The company also bought Scoot Networks in 2019 and the US scooter operator Spin from TIER in September 2023 for $19 million.

Bird grew on fast venture rounds. Its $15 million Series A in February 2018 was led by Craft Ventures. A $100 million Series B followed in March 2018, led by Index Ventures and Valor Equity Partners, and in May 2018 Sequoia Capital led a $150 million round that valued Bird at $1 billion. In June 2018 it raised another $300 million at a $2 billion valuation, and in early 2019 it raised about $300 million more in a round led by Fidelity. Its registration statements list Craft Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital and Fidelity as 5% holders at the time of the listing. David Sacks of Craft, Daniel Friedland of Goldcrest and Roelof Botha of Sequoia sat on the board.

In May 2021 Bird agreed to merge with Switchback II Corporation, a SPAC, at an enterprise value of about $2.3 billion, backed by a $160 million private placement led by Fidelity. The deal closed on November 4, 2021 and Bird Global began trading on the NYSE as BRDS, with about $414 million of incremental liquidity. The public period was short. In November 2022 the company said it had overstated revenue for more than two years by counting unpaid rider wallet balances. In September 2023 it moved off the NYSE with a market value of about $7 million. On December 20, 2023 Bird Global and its US subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Florida. In 2024 the business was restructured under a new owner, Third Lane Mobility.

For investors, Bird is a case study in valuations set by growth alone. It became a unicorn within about a year of founding and reached $2 billion within nine months of its Series A. Early backers such as Craft Ventures bought Series Seed preferred at $0.41 a share and Series A at $0.73. The SPAC gave holders a public market, but within about two years of listing the equity had lost nearly all its value, and the company left bankruptcy under a new private owner.