History of electric scooters
Bird Inc. and the pioneer's trap of the sharing class (2017–2024)
A standalone historical profile of Bird Rides / Bird Global: founder Travis VanderZanden (former Lyft COO and Uber VP of International Growth), the launch of the first dockless fleet in Santa Monica on 15 September 2017 on adapted Xiaomi M365 units, the criminal complaint filed by the City of Santa Monica in December 2017 and the $300,000 plea agreement of February 2018, the peak valuation of $2.5 billion in January 2019 (the fastest US 'unicorn' on record), the hardware iterations Bird Zero (October 2018) → Bird One (May 2019) → Bird Two (August 2019) → Bird Three (May 2021 with IP68 battery and AEB), the SPAC merger with Switchback II on the NYSE on 4 November 2021 at an implied $2.3 billion valuation, the financial restatement of 14 November 2022 (overstatement of revenue for 2020–2022), the acquisition of Spin from Tier for $19 million on 19 September 2023, delisting from the NYSE on 22 September 2023 at a market cap of $7 million, Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Florida on 20 December 2023, the asset purchase by Third Lane Mobility Inc. for ~$145 million on 5 April 2024, and why being first in a market does not translate into unit economics — the 'pioneer's trap' of dockless sharing as a case study.