Super pedestrian, the e-scooter The startup known for its self-diagnostic software is shutting down its US-based scooter-sharing operation on Dec. 31 and is exploring a sale of its European business, TechCrunch has learned exclusively.
The company’s director of US operations, Alexander Berg, confirmed the news to his team on Friday afternoon in a Zoom call. Berg said the reason for the closure was financial, but did not elaborate. “Even our investors have put in money to keep us risky even at this point,” he said on the call. “It wasn’t for lack of trying.”
The closing comes just 18 months after the startup raised $125 million in a Series C equity and debt funding round that included investors Jefferies, Antara Capital, IGV’s Sony Innovation Fund and FM Capital along with existing backers such as Spark Capital , General Catalyst and Citi. through the Citi Impact Fund.
It appears that Jeffries and Adara were two of the investors who helped try to keep the company afloat, as Superpedestrian assigned patents to each as collateral for loans of undisclosed amounts to July and Octoberrespectively, according to documents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
However, the e-scooter industry has been in a bit of a bind since then. Bird’s valuation collapsed after the announcement, prompting the company to exit several markets. Superpedestrian itself has gone through a series of layoffs, including one just months after closing its Series C round. The latest, per a LinkedIn post, was earlier this month.
On the call, Berg said Superpedestrian will be “minimally staffed” while pulling scooters across the country back to warehouses over the next two weeks. Vanessa Carmack, Superpedestrian’s senior director of human resources for the US, who said she had layoffs at previous companies, told employees during the Zoom call that the experience was “disappointing” and said she felt she was “far from circle. “
CEO Assaf Biderman had a brief call with some employees earlier Friday, initially announcing the decision. Biderman did not immediately respond to a voice message and email request for comment.
Superpedestrian said its scooters operate in more than 60 cities in 11 countries, although it pulled out of Chicago in September citing competitive difficulties. A spokeswoman in Waco, Texas, where Superpedestrian recently built a fleet of scooters, said by phone Friday that she was not aware of any impending closings.
The startup used technology, specifically diagnostic and security software, to differentiate it from competitors like Bird and Tier. The company boosted its technology efforts by acquiring Navmatic in July 2021.
It leveraged Navmatic’s technology to develop and then launch a so-called pedestrian protection system, a feature designed to detect and correct unsafe driving behaviors, such as driving on sidewalks, in real time. Superpedestrian had planned to build and market new scooters equipped with its Pedestrian Defense brand in 25 cities across the United States and Europe by 2022. Initial deployments were supposed to begin in the US and UK in cities with high pedestrian density in early spring, according to the company.
