Movements | October 10th, 2019

Issue #67 -  Brought to you by Michal Naka and Adam Feldman. Join thousands of others who receive this analysis and curation of emerging mobility news in their inbox every week — subscribe now.

Micromobility

The makers of Scooter Map, launched Spring, a software platform for micromobility operators. Spring provides the rider app, operations app, admin dashboard, and IOT connectivity for $10 / scooter / month with an emphasis on efficient operations. | Spring

Superpedestrian shows off its scooters ability to store maps and geofences onboard the device. “Operators can apply rules including speed and parking limits and the vehicle enforces them within 1 second - or 7 meters in full speed - an order of magnitude better than current industry standards.” | Superpedestrian

An interview with the former GM of Bird France. Interesting stat: “Bird France alone has grown this year into a $35m+ business.”  | TheStartup

A 59-year old man in Fort Lauderdale was arrested and charged after cutting the brake lines on over 100 shared scooters in the city. | The Verge

Video interview with Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden. The company is focused on 3 business lines: sharing, platform, and ownership. "The unit economics are positive. We certainly have a lot of work to do on Opex. We are not fully loaded profitable yet, but we are profitable at the ride level and the city level." | Techcrunch

Lime’s President Joe Kraus sees little value in acquiring smaller scooter operators: “I absolutely believe that most of our users have multiple scooter apps on their phone. But what matters is: what is the first one you open?”  | Financial Times (Paid)

Bird is hiring a eCommerce manager to help build out their retail business. | Bird

Ridehailing & Carsharing

New Uber safety feature could let riders record audio in rides. | Digital Trends

Can carsharing survive? Former Reach Now CEO, Steve Banfield, reflects on the recent influx of freefloating systems that have shut down across North America. Steve looks into the different factors at play: city design, permit fees, law enforcement, and ownership habits.  | Steve Banfield

New Investments & Deals

Bird announced its $275 million dollar Series D round last week. The company plans to continue to scale across cities, especially in Europe. “We believe the cash will last for a few years.” | Techcrunch

Tier Mobility raised a $60 million dollar Series B round as the company crossed 10 million trips in 11 months. “We have a clear path to create a new type of vehicle and we’re not far away, and it’s suited for cities and will be good in rainy seasons.” | Bloomberg