Micromobility startup Bird files for bankruptcy

Following a challenging year, the electric scooter company, Bird, previously assessed at a value of $2.5 billion by investors, has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In a press release, Bird confirmed that it had entered into a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet,” with the company continuing to operate as normal in pursuit of “long-term, sustainable growth.”

Bird, a startup founded in 2017 by Travis VanderZanden, a former executive of Lyft and Uber, was one of many to bring dockless micromobility platforms to global cities, offering short-term rentals of electric scooters or bikes. However, after going public in late 2021 through a SPAC merger in an over-saturated market with dubious economics, its stock consistently plunged. Its market cap fell from over $2 billion at its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) introduction, to a mere $70 million a year later. Consequently, the NYSE warned that Bird’s share price was too low due to this significant decline.