Birdchief legal policy officer is leaving the company

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bird, the $2.5 billion electric scooter business, is losing its chief legal and policy officer
David Estrada, who was hired last year from Kitty Hawk, is joining another mobility company, SoftBank-backed Nuro.A spokesperson for Bird
tells TechCrunch Estrada is leaving the Santa Monica-based company to be closer to his family
Nuro, for its part, is based in Mountain View, CA.Bird’s former chief legal officer, David Estrada.Estrada, who previously oversaw public
policy at the electric aircraft company Kitty Hawk as its chief legal officer, has been responsible for Bird’s compliance and government
relations efforts as the company scaled to over 100 global cities
Prior to joining Kitty Hawk, Estrada spent nearly two years as Lyft’s vice president of government relations and worked as the legal
director for Google X, partnering with states on legislation around autonomous vehicles, Google Glass and drone delivery.Nuro, founded in
June 2016, has emerged as a key player in the rapidly-expanding autonomous delivery sector
The company has attracted a whopping $1.03 billion in venture capital funding to date, according to Pitchbook
SoftBank funneled an astounding $940 million into the business earlier this year at an undisclosed valuation
In addition to SoftBank, Nuro is backed by Greylock and the Chinese venture capital firm Gaorong Capital.The company has been developing a
self-driving stack and combining it with a custom unmanned vehicle designed for last-mile delivery of local goods and services
It began piloting grocery delivery in 2018 in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale.Bird has overcome a number of unique hurdles with many more
afoot, including pushback from local governments who were aggravated by the sudden appearance of hundreds of scooters
At Nuro, Estrada will have the opportunity to focus on the future of unmanned delivery, another sector faced with regulatory challenges and
political barriers.