Skip (est. in 2017) was a San Francisco-based company which provided a scooter-sharing system in several American cities. The company was founded by Matt Tran, Mike Wadhera, and Sanjay Dastoor during Y Combinator's winter 2018 class.[2] Skip differentiated itself from competitors by making sturdier scooters with larger batteries, offering instructional classes, and working with cities before rolling out.[1] It was acquired by Helbiz in 2020 and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in August 2021.[3][4]
Formerly | Waybots, Inc. |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | Scooter sharing |
Founded | December 2017 |
Founders | Matt Tran, Mike Wadhera, Sanjay Dastoor[1] |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Areas served | Washington, D.C., Austin, TX, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, Arlington, VA, Alexandria, VA |
Website | rideskip |
History
editSkip was founded as Waybots in winter 2017 by the creators of Boosted Board, as higher-end competitor to other scooter-sharing systems.[5][1]
In May 2018, Skip raised a $6M seed round of funding.[1] In June 2018, the company raised an additional $25M in its Series A round.[6]
In December, 2020, Skip was acquired by competitor Helbiz.[7][8]
The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy (dissolution) in 2021.[9]
Areas served
editIn February 2018, then Waybots launched in its first city, Washington, D.C., as part of a pilot program.[10]
At the end of August 2018, the city of San Francisco gave Skip and Scoot permission to operate dockless scooters in the city.[11] In an email sent out October 15, 2019 to its members, Skip announced that their scooters "will no longer be rentable as part of SFMTA’s Powered Scooter Share Program for 2019-2020" effective immediately, because the scooter batteries had a tendency to catch on fire. Skip has reportedly requested an appeal of SFMTA's decision, in order to continue operations in San Francisco.[12]
Between June and July 2019, Skip launched in San Diego, CA and Austin, TX.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Constine, Josh (17 May 2018). "Boosted Boards founders launch heavy-duty scooter renter Skip". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- ^ "YC Companies". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Squires, Camille. "A scooter pioneer has just filed for bankruptcy". Quartz. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ SFGATE, Madeline Wells (6 August 2021). "San Francisco e-scooter company files for bankruptcy". SFGATE. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ Green, Amanda (3 September 2013). "Backyard Genius 2013: 8 Unusual, Unconventional, Awesome Inventions". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- ^ Efrati, Amir; Weinberg, Cory; Zhang, Yunan (12 June 2018). "Scooter Mania Continues as 'Skip' Nabs $25 Million, 'Bird' Goes to China". The Information. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Skip to get acquired, marks further consolidation in e-scooter industry". San Francisco Business Times. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ "Skip involvement in Helbiz fraud". Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ SFGATE, Madeline Wells (6 August 2021). "San Francisco e-scooter company files for bankruptcy". SFGATE. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ Goldchain, Michelle (28 February 2018). "Waybots's scooter-sharing service arrives in D.C." Curbed DC. Vox Media. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Versano, Carlo; Corba, Jacqueline; Webb, Bridgette (31 August 2018). "Skip CEO: We Do Scooters Without 'Controversy and Complaints'". Cheddar. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Hawkins, Andrew J. (15 October 2019). "Uber, Spin, and Lime scooters are now legal in San Francisco, but Skip is out". The Verge. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
- ^ Jennewein, Chris (1 July 2019). "Skip Adding Its Scooters to San Diego's Dockless Sharing Market". Times of San Diego. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ Widner, Cindy (24 June 2019). "500 new e-scooters will hit Austin streets". Curbed. Retrieved 12 August 2019.