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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Uber is getting into the dockless bicycle-sharing [wikipedia.org] business with an acquisition reportedly worth $100-200 million [techcrunch.com]:

Uber has acquired bike-sharing startup JUMP for an undisclosed amount of money. This comes shortly after TechCrunch reported that JUMP was in talks [techcrunch.com] with Uber as well as with investors regarding a potential fundraising round involving Sequoia Capital's Mike Moritz. At the time, JUMP was contemplating a sale that exceeded $100 million. We're now hearing that the final price was closer to $200 million, according to one source close to the situation.

JUMP's decision to sell to Uber came down to the ability to realize the bike-share company's vision at a large scale, and quickly, JUMP CEO Ryan Rzepecki told TechCrunch over the phone. He also said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's leadership impacted his decision.

[...] JUMP is best known for operating dockless, pedal-assist bikes. JUMP's bikes can be legally locked to bike parking racks or the "furniture zone" of sidewalks, which is where you see things like light poles, benches and utility poles. The bikes also come with integrated locks to secure the bikes.

Also at VentureBeat [venturebeat.com] and Recode [recode.net].

Related: New Electric Bikes, Scooters, and Dockless Bicycles Hitting U.S. Streets [soylentnews.org]

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