Bye-bye, Bird(ie)

Bird, the e-scooter sharing company that was once the fastest startup to ever reach a “unicorn” valuation (>$1 billion), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday.

The move, much like grandma asking about your love life on holidays, doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. The company has experienced a slew of issues since going public via SPAC in 2021.

• Bird shares, which debuted at an implied valuation of $2.3 billion, lost more than 90% of their value in the six months after IPO. The company also admitted to the SEC last year that it had overstated revenue in both 2020 and 2021.
• Founder Travis VanderZanden departed in June, at which point his stake in the company was reportedly worth less than his Miami house.
• Bird was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange in September for failing to maintain a market value above $15 million for 30 consecutive days.

Other so-called micromobility startups are also struggling. Micromobility.com, an e-bike/e-scooter company that also went public via SPAC in 2021, was asked this week by the Nasdaq to delist its shares because they were trading below $1.

The industry’s future doesn’t look too bright, either. E-scooters are becoming increasingly unpopular with citizens, many of whom see them as dangerous and an eyesore. Nearly 90% of voters in Paris supported a ban on e-scooter companies, which took effect in September.