Bird Buys eScooter Competitor Circ

Creating a combined company that will lead to an addition of over 300 employees to its European operations, California-based Bird has purchased shared eScooter company Circ. Bird also unveiled a $75 million extension to its Series D fundraising round, which had the size of that round arrive at $350 million, the company said its announcement of the acquisition.

Bird Founder and CEO Travis VanderZanden said in the announcement, “I founded Bird nearly three years ago because we need to change the status quo and take a transformative stance to combat the traffic and pollution that affect our cities and endanger people globally.” VanderZanden continued, “To further advance our mission, we’re excited to acquire Circ which is the clear European leader. We like their laser focus on treating cities as their number 1 customer and their mindset of prioritizing profitability over growth.”

Circ is a top shared eScooter company in the Middle East and Europe. The company has brought “world-class city-centric solutions and customer service to millions of riders” with operations in 43 cities in 12 nations per the acquisition announcement. Investors joining the existing investors as part of the combined firm include Team Europe, Signals Venture Capital, Target Global and Idinvest Partners.

Circ Founder and CEO Lukasz Gadowski said in the announcement, “With deep city partnerships and leading technology, we have established ourselves as the micromobility leader in Europe.” Gadowski continued, “As a combined company with Bird, we will be able to significantly accelerate our mission throughout Europe to provide safe, available, affordable, convenient, and sustainable rides.”

In October, news surfaced that Bird had announced a Series D funding round of $275 million bringing its valuation to $2.5 billion. Sequoia Capital and CDPQ led the round, with fresh funding used to aid the scooter company in becoming closer to profitability in addition to enable ongoing development and research per news at the time.