Bird treats itself, acquiring European e-scooter startup Circ

Remember that low-tech, Razor scooter you loved as a 9-year-old?... Big-kid electric scooters are taking over now. Bird is the Santa-Monica based scooter pioneer that just scooped up Berlin-based competitor Circ, which scoots across 40 cities in 14 European countries (and the UAE). Here's the scoop:

• Money: Bird hit a $2.5B valuation in October by littering cities with e-scooters you unlock via phone. It also just raised $75M as an extension to its latest funding round.
• Shopping: Circ isn't Bird's first acquisition — it bought California rival Scoot in early 2019.
• Losses: Bird lost almost $100M during the 1st quarter of 2019 — Blame scooter lifespans, vandalism, and (shocker) cold winter months.

An unprofitable ride... Major scooter operators like Bird, Lime, Uber, and Lyft all laid off employees recently — Circ fired 10% of its team before selling itself to Bird. Even though Bird's surged to a $3B valuation in less than 3 years of life, here's 1 key reason it's so unprofitable: Bird scooters in some cities only last for 23 days on average before they have to be replaced, according to Oversharing.