As word spread that an electric scooter rental company called Bird Rides was amassing $300 million from investors just months after its first birthday, one question has plagued onlookers in and outside Silicon Valley: Why?
Now that the Los Angeles-based startup has completed the massive financing effort, Bird founder Travis VanderZanden is ready to explain how he plans to spend all that money.
According to THE VERGE, Studener says Paris and Tel Aviv were chosen because both are “tech- and innovation-forward [cities]” and were interested in reducing car congestion through a broader range of mobility options. But when asked what specific permissions Bird has received from the governments of both cities, Studener is circumspect. “I think, in general, we are super collaborative and want to work with the cities,” he tells The Verge. “This is a going to be a long project to reduce car ownership in the cities and bring the car trips down.” Bird is talking with officials in Paris and Tel Aviv “at both the municipal and at the national level,” he adds.
As they say that it is not a small project, “Paris already has great infrastructure, but there are gaps in that infrastructure, and I think there are a lot of innovative companies like Bird helping fill those gaps.”