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Spin team | Image credit: Spin

The Berlin-based shared micro-mobility company, TIER Mobility, announced on Wednesday that it has entered the North American market with the acquisition of Ford-owned shared electric bike and scooter operator, Spin.

This is TIER Mobility’s third acquisition in recent months and the company will now partner with cities in two new countries – Canada and the US – to deliver its services.

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Ben Bear, CEO of Spin, says, “TIER and Spin both believe in a partnership-first approach, operating with employees rather than contractors, and helping get people out of cars by offering sustainable, equitable, and safe micro-mobility services. We couldn’t be more excited to continue scaling the Spin movement in North America as part of the TIER family. Together we will be the number one choice of cities and riders globally.”

“Accessible, affordable and sustainable forms of personal mobility”

Founded in 2016 by Derrick Ko, Euwyn Poon, and Zaizhuang Cheng, Spin is a shared electric scooter company that provides dockless mobility systems in cities and campuses in the US, Canada and the UK.

The company is also the first in the world to successfully pilot city-first innovations like sidewalk riding detection technology. Spin consists of a diverse team of experienced professionals from government and private sectors, and the transportation advocacy world, all of whom are committed to fulfilling the company’s mission – to help create a world full of 15 minute cities.

Spin’s team is based across San Francisco, Miami, Austin, Seattle, and DC, and includes members with experience from Lyft, Uber, Yik Yak, Samsung, Fitbit, and other leading technology companies.

Aim of this acquisition

After recently acquiring bikeshare player Nextbike, TIER Mobility was operating in over 410 cities with a fleet of 250,000 vehicles. And now, with the purchase of Spin and its 50,000 vehicles, TIER expands its global footprint to more than 520 cities and communities in 21 countries, and its fleet to 300,000 vehicles.

This makes TIER the largest multimodal micro-mobility operator globally in terms of the number of cities and vehicles.

Spin claims to have strong city partnerships in North America, a history of city-focused innovation like sidewalk riding detection technology, and groundbreaking approaches to building successful charging infrastructure. TIER, on the other hand, has safety features, sustainability standards, and innovations such as the proprietary TIER Energy Network and swappable battery technology. Hence, with this acquisition, both companies are committed to building the safest, equitable, and sustainable mobility solutions for people.

TIER says that investing in and modernising the Spin fleet with 100 per cent swappable batteries will be one of many upcoming projects to achieve environmental sustainability and efficiency in the North American micro-mobility industry.

Lawrence Leuschner, CEO and co-founder of TIER Mobility, says, “The acquisition of Spin and our entry into the North American market are huge milestones in our mission to Change Mobility for Good. We are excited to support citizens in cities and communities across North America to make the switch from cars to more sustainable urban mobility solutions – a switch that is urgently needed to decarbonise towns and cities across the world. We look forward to delivering this together with Spin who share our values of responsible partnership and sustainable vision.”

Spin has recently started focusing 100 per cent on limited or single-vendor markets where cities or campus officials select partners through a competitive procurement process. This has helped the company retain 100 per cent of its permits over the last five quarters. 

The markets where Spin chose to continue operating were collectively EBITDA positive over the past 12 months, an approach that aligns with TIER’s focus on building both an environmentally and economically sustainable business. Spin’s team will continue in North America as a separate entity while transferring its UK business to TIER at a later date.

“Change Mobility For Good”

Founded in 2018 by Lawrence Leuschner, Julian Blessin, and Matthias Laug, TIER Mobility is a shared micro-mobility provider of e-scooters, e-bikes, and e-mopeds integrated with 30 different public transport providers.

Through its platform, the company allows for the integration of all micro-mobility assets. This enables it to enter strategic partnerships with public transportation providers, and other mobility providers such as Sixt – a German multinational car rental company.

TIER’s investors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital and White Star Capital. To date, TIER has raised a total of $660M in equity and debt.