Superpedestrian to auction 20,000 electric scooters after closure

More than 20,000 of Superpedestrian’s electric scooters will be auctioned later this month, along with other equipment from the startup’s U.S. operations, which closed on December 31.

Silicon Valley Disposition, an online marketplace for “surplus assets,” has two “Global Online Auction” listings on its website that include pedals from super pedestrian-operated cities such as Seattle, Los Angeles and New York City. Cars and other paraphernalia. The first auction will begin on January 23 and last for three days. Continuous auctions will be held from January 29th to January 31st.

Superpedestrian originally entered the shared scooter business (which it calls Link) in 2020, when it acquired “substantially all” of the assets of Boston-based Zagster as part of a wave of consolidation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite raising $125 million less than two years ago, the company struggled financially in 2023 as it operates fleets of shared scooters in dozens of cities around the world. TechCrunch reported last month that new funding and a potential merger emerged as early as November, but whatever the talks ultimately turned out to be, they fell through. The company’s declaration of bankruptcy comes just days before Bird, the former leader in the field, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The startup later told employees on Dec. 15 that it would close its U.S. operations at the end of the year and explore selling its European assets. (The status of the European operations remains unclear. Superpedestrian CEO Assaf Biderman did not respond to a request for comment.) The workers who held on during the final two weeks were tasked in part with retrieving the equipment from surrounding cities. Many of the company’s scooters were in the country before the facility was last locked down on December 31, according to a former employee.