🧐 Inside Bird’s Pre-IPO Finances

Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by lightweight electric vehicles. The reason you’re reading this email is that you signed up on our website or came to one of our events.

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Big news about Micromobility America…

Before we start, some big news about Micromobility America in the SF Bay Area on Sept 23. Due to higher than anticipated ticket demand, we’re making some exciting changes:

Taken together, these measures are aimed at ensuring that everyone who’d like to attend the show feels safe and comfortable to do so. You can learn more about our safety protocol here.

And don’t forget to book your tickets this week while they’re nearly 50% off.

Political upstart Andrew Yang, Wired tech journalist Lauren Goode, and famed Formula E driver and electric scooter racing entrepreneur Lucas Di Grassi headline a jam-packed agenda exploring the latest micromobility solutions for the first mile, the last mile, and every mile in-between. View more speakers here.

What You Need to Know This Week

• In the run-up to its IPO, Bird is still losing money, but business is picking up as riders return post-lockdown. The micromobility company’s second-quarter results show revenue soared 477%, while net loses dropped from $50m to $43.7m, year-over-year.

• The harsh economic reality of scooter sharing might have something to do with Bird’s recent decision to kick off sales of its first e-bike. Bird Bike (specs below) will be the company’s first foray into the e-bike market, which is expected to reach nearly $68b by 2026. Of all the shared micromobility companies, it’s interesting that Bird, in particular, wants to sell private vehicles to consumers now, given its central role in initiating the dockless scooter boom in California in 2017. What if, after everything, shared scooters end up being a retail customer acquisition channel for Bird?

  • “The bike, dubbed Bird Bike of course, has a 500W rear hub motor, a Gates carbon belt drive, pedal- and throttle-assisted power, and the relatively modest sticker price of $2,299.”

• How America’s environmental review system makes it easier for cities to build new highways than new subways.

• Raleigh, one of the oldest bike companies in Britain, wants to supply e-cargo bikes to couriers. A recent study found e-cargo bikes deliver packages 60% faster than vans in dense urban areas, and analysts predict last-mile couriers will eventually account for nearly half of e-cargo bike sales.

• Los Angeles has started a two-year pilot with the eventual goal of making its transit system fare-free. It joins over 100 cities worldwide that are experimenting with getting rid of fare boxes.

• Helbiz is assembling a team to compete in the first-ever eSC Championship, a new motorsport series that will put professional racers on 60-mph electric scooters and pit them against each other in street races.

• Some 20 scooter-sharing startups are exploring commercial launches in Ireland, Europe’s “final frontier” for micromobility.

• Specialized pledges to recycle all e-bike batteries in the US by the end of 2021.

• Transit, a MaaS aggregation app, is launching a paid subscription service that will allow users to view transit schedules that are farther away for $24.99/year. The move comes at a time when many MaaS startups are looking for a profitable business model.

• Niu reports it sold over 250k electric mopeds in Q2—a 58% increase year-over-year—with nearly all of it business coming from China.

• What’s the best weather for bike-share? About 80-82° with clear skies, according to a new study that show ridership peaks under such pleasant conditions.

• Fontinalis Parnters is launching its third fund for early-stage mobility startups with $104m.

• Pedego Electric Bikes says it surpassed $121m in revenue in the last 12 months.

• Will your next daily commuter cost less than your phone? Maybe, if you live in China. Honda has released a dirt-cheap $475 electric moped in the PRC that, based on its top speed of 15mph, actually qualifies as an e-bike in the eyes of the law.

• The price of parking garages in Manhattan is exploding because people require housing for the cars they bought during the pandemic. “Centerpark converted an Upper East Side garage into a condominium—but instead of apartments, it’s selling 23 parking spaces, and hired a luxury real estate broker to market them for sale to the public for as much as $350,000 each.”

• According to a new study, bike-share saves the US $36m in public health funding every year.

• Um, who wants to try this wonderfully weird solar-powered, two-person motor tricycle for us? Only $1.5k on Alibaba… but you do you have to order a minimum of 100 units. Let us know.

Jobs to Be Done

Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post open positions in hopes of connecting our talented readers with professional opportunities in the burgeoning world of new mobility. Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to view fresh listings every week.

Hit reply if you have a job that you’re interested in listing.

• Bike Design Engineer @ Radio Flyer (Chicago)

• Digital Marketing Manager @ Shift Transit (Chicago or remote)

• Zoomo:

  • ANZ General Manager (Alexandria, New South Wales)

  • Head of People & Culture (Sydney)

  • UK General Manager (London)

  • UK Business Ops Manager - B2B (London)

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