Bird, the US-based mobility services provider backed by real estate developer Simon Property, revealed yesterday it is merging with special purpose acquisition company Switchback II Corporation.
The company will acquire the position on the New York Stock Exchange taken by Switchback II in a $275m initial public offering in January this year. The deal grants Bird a $2.3bn pro forma enterprise valuation.
The transaction will be boosted by a $160m private placement from investors including investment and financial services group Fidelity Management & Research.
Bird operates fleets of electric scooters across 200 cities that can be booked through its mobile app. The news comes after a $208m convertible equity offering co-led by Bracket Capital, Sequoia Capital and Valor Equity Partners last month together with a $40m vehicle financing credit facility supplied by Apollo Investment Corporation and MidCap Financial Trust
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec co-led the company’s last round, which closed at $350m in January 2020 at a reported $3.1bn valuation, taking its overall funding to $765m.
Simon Ventures, the VC firm sponsored by Simon Property, was an earlier backer, as were Sequoia, Craft Ventures, Tusk Ventures, Lead Edge Capital, Goldcrest Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Index Ventures, B Capital, Accel, Greycroft, E.ventures, CRV, Upfront Ventures and Sound Ventures.
Bird’s founder and CEO, Travis VanderZanden, said: “Since 2017, we have driven adoption of micro-mobility which has resulted in rapid growth. During this time, we have advanced our operating model, supported by proprietary technology and hardware, to scale our mission and reach more cities.
“This foundation has driven our strong unit economics and delivered our successful track record to date. As we look ahead, we intend to build upon our market leadership and grow our business, which currently only scratches the surface of the estimated $800bn annual market opportunity for micro-mobility.”
