1/ We can announce officially today that @BirdRide has raised $275 million. Upfront wrote a large check into this. As the article validates - it was all about "unit economics," which have performed very well.
theverge.com/2019/10/3/2089…
theverge.com/2019/10/3/2089…
@BirdRide 2/ Where ride sharing companies must pay a driver, scooter companies have the economics of autonomous vehicles today. The person enjoying the ride is the same person driving
@BirdRide 3/ More than 90% of Bird Scooters were now designed by Bird (in the US) and built specifically for us by partners. The lifespan now yields large return on capital expenditure
@BirdRide 4/ Something few people know ... the algorithm drives a lot of our profitability. Being able to predict where & when rides start and end is critical in what is now an asset utilization business. Without a scaled tech platform it is hard to compete with AI models
@BirdRide 5/ Bird now has scooters (0-4 miles), mopeds and eBikes (3-7 miles) and is able to meet the needs of multiple needs of cities and commuters. Cities that today lack infrastructure to support scooters with pedestrians & cars can reduce car congestion with electric mopeds
@BirdRide 6/ While regulation places some (sensible) limits on micro-mobility solutions the trend is very clear now that cities and campuses want to adopt with more than 150 having passed or are currently releasing policies.
@BirdRide 7/ Bird has been out in front of the market on building & encouraging sensible and safe regulations around parking zones, slow zones, dismount zones and financial incentives / disincentives to encourage more productive co-existence with other forms of travel
@BirdRide 8/ A study released by Santa Monica (the first city to adopt scooters and the most advanced on preparing the city for the future) showed that > 50% scooter rides displaced car usage for local commuting. This is a very encouraging data point.
@BirdRide 9/ I know that people can't resist their intuition that anybody can put scooters out and compete. While it's true anybody could do that, I assure you the competitive moats around maintaining a profitable micro-mobility company at scale are very real.
@BirdRide 10/ The competitive moats, world-class vehicle team, amazing data scientists, focus on being a partner to cities & universities and outstanding leadership of TV are what made @upfrontvc excited about writing a sizable check into this round of growth capital at Bird
