SANTA MONICA, Calif.,
Feb. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- Bird, a last-mile electric vehicle sharing company, today
announced it has raised $15 million
in its Series A funding round. Led by Craft Ventures, the new fund
launched by David Sacks and
Bill Lee, the investment will drive
the continued expansion of Bird's first-in-the-world fleet of
environmentally friendly, shared electric scooters. The
investment comes as Bird experiences rapid ridership growth in its
current cities and enters new markets across the United States. Tusk Ventures, Valor, Lead
Edge Capital, and Goldcrest Capital also invested in the round.
"This is an enthusiastic vote of confidence in our company that
reflects the passion we've seen from riders in each of the cities
that Bird has debuted in," said Travis
VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird. "More riders are
taking flight on Birds each day – on their way to work, lunch, the
bus stop, or campus – because it is a safe, low-cost transportation
solution for short trips around town. We look forward to bringing
our Birds to new communities across the country."
Bird provides a convenient, low-cost transportation option for
people looking to take a short journey across town or down the
"last-mile" from the subway or bus to their destination. Through
the smartphone app, riders can access Birds, locate the most
convenient one, and ride directly to their desired destination.
Since launching in September 2017
in Santa Monica, riders have
logged more than 250,000 Bird rides, with more than half of those
occurring in the previous month alone.
"Bird is solving the last mile of sustainable transport," said
David Sacks, co-founder of Craft
Ventures and member of Bird's board of directors. "It's convenient,
it's green, it alleviates traffic and makes cities more livable.
This product has the potential to transform urban areas."
Bird's founder, Travis
VanderZanden, developed an early passion for transportation
riding along with his mother, a public bus driver in Appleton, Wis. He then went on to be a pioneer
in car ridesharing, serving as the first COO of Lyft and as VP of
driver growth for Uber.
Bird's senior leadership also has deep experience across the
transportation and technology industries, including: Justin Balthrop, CTO, previously at Geni;
Stephen Schnell, VP of operations,
previously at Lyft; Sean Sires, VP
of corporate development, previously at Uber; Ryan Fujiu, head of growth, previously at Lyft;
Ryan Hupfer, head of launch,
previously at Lyft; and Scott
Rushforth, VP of engineering, previously at Activity Club.
In addition to David Sacks,
Justin Kan the co-founder of Twitch,
and Dan Friedland, partner at
Goldcrest Capital, have also joined the company's board of
directors.
Birds are currently available in Santa
Monica and Venice, Calif.
as well as select neighborhoods in San
Diego and Los Angeles. The
company is rapidly expanding, and riders interested in learning
when it will be available in their market can download and sign up
at www.birdapp.com.
About Bird
Bird is a last-mile electric vehicle sharing company dedicated
to bringing safe, low-cost, environmentally friendly transportation
solutions to communities across the world. It provides a fleet of
electric, shared scooters that can be accessed via smartphone.
Birds give people looking to take a short journey across town or
down that "last-mile" from the subway or bus to their destination a
way to do so that does not pollute the air or add to traffic. Bird
works closely with the cities in which it operates so that Bird is
a safe, reliable, and affordable transportation option for people
who live and work there. Founded in 2017 by transportation pioneer
Travis VanderZanden, Bird is
headquartered in Santa Monica,
Calif., and is rapidly expanding across the country and the
world. Follow Bird on Instagram (www.instagram.com/bird).
Contact:
Rachel Katz
202-792-7200
press@bird.co
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SOURCE Bird