Ford is acquiring scooter startup Spin, according to a report from Axios citing anonymous sources. The deal, which one source puts at around $40 million, would help Ford compete with a growing cohort of new mobility startups seeking to revolutionize how people get around.
Spin was founded in San Francisco in 2016 as a dockless bike-sharing startup. It was one of the three companies to participate in Seattle’s bike-share pilot. But Spin quickly pivoted to shared, electric scooters to compete with other newcomers in the space, like Bird and Lime. Spin left the Seattle market because rentable scooters are not permitted there.
The acquisition would also put Ford in more direct competition with Uber and Lyft, both of which are moving into electric scooter-share. It could also portend additional acquisitions of the heavily funded startups shaking up transportation.
Lime and Uber are already cozy. In the coming weeks, Uber is adding the ability to rent Lime scooters to its app, The Wall Street Journal reports. Uber is an investor in Lime and the scooter startup recently hired Uber’s former chief business officer.
