Kick scooter at a rental station (icon image).
pixabay.com
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the business with electric kick scooters, the American pioneer Bird takes over to take a foothold in Europe faster. Bird buys the Berlin company Circ, which is currently active in 43 cities in twelve countries. The Americans did not mention a price in their message on Monday.
Smaller e-scooter providers are also on the market in Germany and Europe. Concentration has long been expected in the industry itself. At the start of Germany in the summer, Circ managers were still convinced that they could survive against the big US rivals like Bird and Lime.
One of the founders of Circ is the serial entrepreneur Lukasz Gadowski, who, among other things, set up the delivery man Lieferheld. The company started under the name Flash and raised several dozen million euros from investors. Bird was valued at $ 2.5 billion in the latest round of funding, according to media reports.
Both companies rely on e-scooters from their own development, which should be more robust and durable. One problem in the industry in the early days was the short lifespan of vehicles, which drove up costs.
The “Financial Times” had previously reported on the takeover. Bird wants to catch up with European competitor Lime, who has had a better start in Germany, it said, citing industry insiders./so/DP/he
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