A Dallas-based blank-check company successfully completed its merger with electric scooter company Bird Rides Inc., which listed on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.
Switchback II Corp., led by former oil and gas executives, raised $300 million in an IPO in January to target a company in energy transition or sustainability “in order to meet critical emission reduction objectives.” The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, announced in May it had struck a deal with Santa Monica-based Bird. Switchback did not respond to request for comment.
The merger, which was officially approved Tuesday, originally valued the deal at about $2.3 billion. Switchback is the second iteration of Switchback Energy Acquisition Company, formed by Scott McNeil and Jim Mutrie, the latter of whom will serve on the board of now publicly traded Bird (NYSE: BRDS). Switchback’s original entity also completed a merger earlier this year with ChargePoint, a California-based e-vehicle charging station technology company, taking the business public in a deal valued at about $2.4 billion. The duo formed the SPACs with the purpose of taking another business public through a combination, bypassing the traditional initial public offering route.
Bird was founded by Travis VanderZanden, a former Lyft and Uber executive, in 2017 to provide electric scooters across cities. The company also recently launched an e-bike business. Dockless e-scooters from companies like Bird and competitor Lime have been barred in Dallas since fall 2020 when the city pulled them due to "safety concerns."
In February, the Dallas SPAC founders filed to raise $275 million through an IPO in a third iteration, Switchback III Corp. The company, targeting the same industry, hasn’t made any more moves yet.
