Bird, the US-based electric scooter rental service that counts real estate developer Simon Property Group as an investor, secured $275m in series D funding yesterday.
The round was co-led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and public pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), at a $2.5bn pre-money valuation, sources familiar with the deal told TechCrunch.
Bird runs an app-based service currently available in more than 100 cities across North America, Europe, South America and the Middle East that lets users book e-scooters through a pay-as-you-go model.
The capital will be put into research and development, the company having already released three iterations of its e-scooter as well as a two-seater electric bicycle called the Bird Cruiser. It stressed this week that it is working towards a sustainable, profitable business model.
Travis VanderZanden, Bird’s founder and CEO, said: “Nearly a year ago, we recognised that the world was changing. Gone are the days when top line growth was the leading [key performance indicator] for emerging companies. Positive unit economics is the new goal line.
“As a result, we pivoted from growth to unit economics as the top priority for the company. Now with the best unit economics in the industry, new Bird investors such as CDPQ see that we are paving the road for a long term sustainable and healthy business.”
The latest round follows a $300m series C led by Sequoia Capital in June 2018 that included B Capital, Accel, Greycroft, E.ventures, CRV, Craft Ventures, Index Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Goldcrest Capital, Tusk Ventures, Upfront Ventures and Sound Ventures. It was closed at a $2bn valuation, a source close to the matter told Reuters.
Craft Ventures, Tusk Ventures, Lead Edge Capital, Goldcrest Capital and Valor Equity Partners provided $15m in series A funding for Bird in February 2018, before the latter investor co-led a $100m series B round with Index Ventures the following month.
Simon Property’s corporate VC fund, Simon Ventures, lists Bird as a portfolio company but has not disclosed details of its investment.
