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Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) said its future mobility subsidiary had acquired Spin, a San Francisco-based scooter sharing company.
This is the latest in a series of steps taken by Ford to strengthen its presence in "mobility" offerings, which go far beyond its core business of selling cars and trucks. What does Ford think here?
Ford buys Spin: about the case
Ford announced that its subsidiary, Ford Smart Mobility, LLC, had acquired Spin, a two-year-old San Francisco-based company that offers short-term rental of electric scooters via a smartphone app.
Spin scooters are "dockless" meaning that they should not be brought to a specific location. The company has so far focused on the supply of its scooters in urban environments and on university campuses. It is currently operational in nine US cities, including Washington DC, Denver and Detroit, as well as five university campuses.
Reuters announced that Ford will invest about $ 200 million in Spin.
Spin offers short-term rental of battery-operated electric scooters in cities and university campuses. Source of the picture: Ford Motor Company.
What is Spin's job?
Spin is one of many companies to have entered the micro-mobility space, an area that has only just become important in recent months. In short, Spin offers short-term rentals of "electric scooters" in urban areas. (What's an "e-scooter"? Imagine a kid's Razor scooter with an electric motor, a battery and an added wireless internet connection. This is a simple way to get move faster than walking.)
Some of Spin's rivals have already made investments at heavy valuations. Lime was valued at more than $ 4 billion when it was last lifted. Its investors include US giant Uber Technologies and AlphabetGoogle Ventures. Bird, which has a strong presence in Los Angeles, was recently valued at $ 2 billion and its investors include heavyweights Greycroft Partners and Sequoia Capital.
Why this huge interest? The opportunity could be huge: a recent Populus report showed that nearly half of all trips to the United States are three miles or less, a distance that electric scooters could serve in certain situations.
Spin customers use a smartphone app to locate and rent scooters. Source of the picture: Ford Motor Company.
Why does Ford want a scooter rental business?
Ford is being transformed from a traditional vehicle manufacturer to a "mobility provider", offering solutions ranging from short-term bike rentals (and now scooters) to buses running on crowdsourced routes, to (possibly) a variety of motor vehicle use modes, including via a subscription service called Canvas. Ford Smart Mobility is the subsidiary created by Ford in 2016 to own and manage these companies.
Sunny Madra is Vice President of Ford Smart Mobility. In a Medium article announcing the acquisition of Spin, he said Ford's plan was to offer a full set of transportation options that includes – and goes beyond – Ford's traditional activities.
Ford is focused on delivering quality products and services across the spectrum of mobility, seeking to improve freedom of movement by building smart vehicles for a connected and smart world. This means that we must continue to develop world-class vehicles, including more hybrid vehicles and battery-powered electric vehicles. It also means the continued development of autonomous vehicles, which we plan to launch on a large scale by 2021. Another essential element of our mobility strategy is to develop a comprehensive set of software and services designed to enable better connectivity and vehicle use, new mobility experiences and multimodal transport solutions.
By combining our strength in automotive research and development with our commitment to connected and autonomous vehicles and our emerging software business, we are expanding our portfolio of scalable mobility solutions to provide a seamless transportation experience for the modern consumer.
Expect more car manufacturers to enter the micro-mobility pool
Ford is not the only builder to explore micro-mobility activities. General Motors (NYSE: GM) announced last week that it would launch a new range of electrified bicycles next year, although it's still difficult to determine whether GM plans to operate a rental or sell business. bicycles to others.
Clearly, for investors, it's a space to watch. While the idea of micro-mobility continues to gain ground, expect more interest from automakers as well as traditional technology investors – and more offers like this one .
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