Monday, April 9, 2018

Bird's Transportation Sector Picks Up As UBER Buys JUMP

The alternative-transportation services segment occupied by new Santa Monica startup Bird suddenly heated up today, after car sharing service Uber said that it has acquired JUMP Bikes--the provider of a electric bike sharing service in San Francisco. Uber reportedly paid between $100M and $200M for JUMP Bikes, which offers up dockless, electric bicycles. Bird--which is backed by Valor Equity Partners, Index Ventures, Craft Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, Tusk Ventures and Upfront Ventures--operates in a very similar space to JUMP Bikes, providing electric scooters for the "last mile" of transportation across a number of cities. Bird just raised a big $100M funding round. Uber, in its acquisition of JUMP, said it is adding "multiple modes of transportation within the Uber app" so that riders can get to where they are going on "Uber, on a bike, on the subway, or more."