Ford Motor stated it will join the rising micro-mobility movement with the acquisition of 2-year-old Spin, an electric scooter rental firm from San Francisco.
Ford is one of the first to enter the sector. The automaker will invest about $200 million in Spin.
The purchase price is lowered by investments in Lime and Bird, the U.S. market leaders in a sector that only started to significantly rise about eight months ago.
Lime, based in San Mateo, California, was founded in 2017 and has attracted over $450 million in funding, at a valuation of over $4 billion. Its investors consist ride services giant Uber and Google’s parent Alphabet.
Bird, based in Santa Monica, also was founded in 2017. It has attracted $400 million in investments and is valued at $2 billion.
In an interview, Marcy Klevorn, president of Ford’s mobility unit, stated the acquisition of Spin “fills a gap in our mobility portfolio,” while providing “accessible and affordable transportation” in cities and on college campuses.
Spin and its competitors follow a simple business model. They purchase e-scooters — think of a child’s kick-start scooter geared up with an electric motor and a wireless internet connection — for $100-$300 each from manufacturers consisting of China’s Ninebot, then rent them for short distances and short periods of duration through mobile phone apps, typically at a flat rate of $1 plus 15 cents a minute.
After releasing in the Bay Area, e-scooters are starting to roll out in many big cities throughout the United States.
Ford plans to extend Spin in the next 18 months, from 32 markets to over 100 in North America, according to Sundeep Madra, head of the automaker’s Ford X startup incubator.
Klevorn stated e-scooters complement Ford’s product portfolio, consist the full-size F-series pickup that generates the lion’s share of Ford’s profit.
