Scooter startups are at a crossroads with COVID-19 and potential capital scarcity forcing an increased focus on sustainability and careful use of cash. In the US, the market has matured, allowing two to three operators to thrive per city, but in Europe there are more than a dozen operators which investors say is impossible to sustain.  The re-opening of cities from lockdown is a litmus test of scooter companies' ability to scale and survive after the COVID-19 crisis. "The move towards efficiency is happening irrespective of COVID-19," Paul Asel, managing partner at NGP Capital and an investor in Lime, told Business Insider in an interview.  Click here for more BI Prime stories.  Scooter startups have been growing rapidly in Europe in recent years amid growing appetite for alternative urban transport options. That shift is set to as cities re-open from coronavirus lockdowns, and the public tries to avoid the scrum of buses, trams, and metros. The advent of electric scooters in Europe became something of a smash and grab, with operators dumping thousands of scooters on the streets of major cities, often without approval from local authorities. Paris became the epicenter of some 12 operators competing for crowded curb sides, with the city eventually opting to only allow three operators going forward in its next tender process.  The French capital's example could soon become the norm, according to Paul Asel, managing partner at NGP Capital and an investor in Lime. He predicts that investors will no longer pile millions of dollars into the industry. Instead there will be a greater focus on sustainability, which will lead to a more competitive ecosystem and, as a consequence, more failed companies.  "The move towards efficiency is happening irrespective of COVID-19," Asel said in an interview with Business Insider. "The Uber/Lime deal showed that this market is a natural duopoly, having so many operators per city is a money-losing exercise which causes consumer confusion." Uber's recent $170 million funding round into Lime was a de facto deferred purchase with the company's valuation slashed by 80% with provisions in place for SoftBank-backed Uber to buy the scooter startup in two years.  Competition in markets is obviously nothing new, Asel cites automobile, radio, and telecoms companies as good examples of industries where dozens of operators are whittled down to two or three major winners.  The post-COVID comeback  Scooter operators have been starved of revenue due to coronavirus with almost all having to take their product off the streets in response to stringent lockdowns across Asia, North America, and Europe. The way in which cities respond to re-opening is key to the future of the industry, Asel says.  He quotes Thomas Kuhn, author of "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" who said: "The significance of crisis is the indication they provide that an occasion for retooling has arrived," and argues that retooling for scooters will take the form of people shunning public transport for fear of catching coronavirus.  Milan for example is widening cycling lanes, and the same is happening in France. The UK is fast-tracking its previously glacial discussions about the legality of e-scooters, in a bid to provide more options for commuters as the country comes out of lockdown.  "The previous rush and focus on growth led to an adversarial relationship between cities and micro-mobility," Asel said. "Now players in those markets been more collaborative because micro-mobility should increase as a public transit alternative over time." Operators will be glued to the results of tender processes in Paris and Lyon, which will be announced in the coming weeks. The market could experience new mergers off the back of those results, depending on which operators are successful, according to Noa Khamallah, a former top executive at Lime and Voi.  Earlier this year, pre-COVID, Bird bought European scooter operator and one-time competitor Circ, and subsequently cut many of its former competitors' staff as well as some 420 of its own months later to help streamline the business.  Scooters can say goodbye to waterfalls of money Another key factor in the boom of scooters across the world has been the Uber-like rapid expansion that came from vast sums of venture capital poured into startups in San Francisco and elsewhere. In just three years since founding, US companies Bird and Lime have raised $623 million and $925 million respectively while smaller, newer European competitors Tier and Voi have raised $131 million and $168 million each, per Crunchbase.  "Investors will not continue ploughing money into these sectors," Asel added. "More companies die of indigestion than starvation, that message has not been well received or heeded for the last 10 years. SoftBank has done more damage to this market than good and many companies have been destroyed."  SoftBank has not directly invested in a scooter startup but has ploughed cash into mobility firms including Uber and Ola. That appeared to set a trend for over funding in general. A focus on unit economics and sustainability is now set to be key to the ongoing feasibility of scooter startups, but that alone won't be enough. Tier, for example, has pioneered replaceable batteries on its scooters and has a small side business in selling refurbished scooters for private use. Similarly, companies have spent large sums on R&D to help max out the life of each scooter with many newer models now lasting around 18 months.  Worldwide, the e-scooter and bike industry has shed over 1,000 full-time jobs in the past few months, according to online tracker Layoffs.fyi. "VCs have cash but they will slow the dynamic because they realize scooters are not yet profitable and there is a lot of uncertainty in the industry," Khamallah added.SEE ALSO: The CEO of Voi, scooter rival to $2.5 billion Bird, goes public on why it furloughed and laid off staff to cope with COVID-19 Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Tuesday. Facebook employees publicly rebelled over Mark Zuckerberg's decision to keep up a Trump post about the George Floyd protests. More than a dozen Facebook workers directly contradicted the company's stance over the weekend and on Monday in a rare show of public discord. Mark Zuckerberg committed $10 million to fighting racial injustice amid outrage at Facebook's handling of Trump's post threatening protesters. Zuckerberg committed $10 million to groups fighting racial inequality, even as his own workers spoke out against the company's stance. Gaming giant Zynga will buy Turkish developer Peak for $1.8 billion in its biggest ever acquisition. The cash-and-share deal will see Peak's 100-strong team and its portfolio of mobile game franchises join Zynga. Facebook employees held a virtual walkout against the company's handling of Trump's posts. The New York Times reported that "dozens" of employees took Monday off to signal their opposition to the company's refusal to take action against the president's post that discussed shooting in response to the protests in the US. Apple shut stores across the US over safety concerns amid US protests. Photos and videos that circulated on social media over the weekend appear to depict looters breaking into and/or damaging Apple stores in a variety of cities — from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. WeWork's head of real estate for the US, Canada, and Israel is leaving the company after two years. The executive, Aaron Ellison, had helped spearhead growth during the heady runup to the firm's peak valuation of nearly $50 billion. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has invested in UK startup Beacon, a freight forwarding platform. According to Sky News, Bezos will participate in Beacon's $15 million Series A fundraising. Executives from Google, Snap, Apple, Facebook, and more spoke out against racial inequality and police brutality in social media posts and memos to employees. Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed to the history of racism in the US while Snap CEO Evan Spiegel called for a non-partisan committee on reparations. YouTube pledged $1 million in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters, but critics noted the site has allowed white supremacist videos to flourish for years. Studies have shown that YouTube pushes far-right content via its recommendation algorithms. Uber, Lyft, and Lime say they'll suspend services in cities where curfews are implemented. Social media footage across the US has shown scooters being used in riots to smash up buildings and vehicles. Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings. You can also subscribe to this newsletter here — just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know."Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly

The smartphone isn’t going anywhere. No other device can replicate what it does for the everyday consumer, so expect to see more smartphones in the public’s hands over the next few decades. But that doesn’t mean the device will stay the same. The next steps in the smartphone's evolution are here, and Business Insider Intelligence has collected them into The Top 3 Biggest Smartphone Trends. To get your copy of this exclusive report absolutely FREE, simply click here.Join the conversation about this story »

SpaceX launched its first astronauts on Saturday — a mission called Demo-2. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday morning. These are some of the best pictures taken of Demo-2's first launch attempt on Wednesday, the successful launch on Saturday, and the spacecraft's arrival at the ISS on Sunday. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. SpaceX launched NASA astronauts into space for the first time on Saturday — the company's first human passengers and the first time people have ever flown a commercially developed spaceship. This mission was the product of NASA's Commercial Crew program, a partnership between the space agency and two private companies (Boeing is the other) to build spaceships that can ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It was the first time the US  launch its own astronauts from American soil since 2011. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley safely arrived at the space station on Sunday morning. "It's great to get the United States back in the crewed launch business," Hurley said at a press briefing from the ISS on Monday. "We're just really glad to be on board this magnificent complex." These are the best photos from the mission so far. Hurley and Behnken pulled up to the launch site for their first launch attempt on Wednesday in a Tesla. Hurley's wife, Karen Nyberg (who is also an astronaut), and their son waved to him from outside the car window. The astronaut's families exchanged distanced air hugs before the two men boarded the spaceship. Vice President Mike Pence joined Elon Musk, along with the astronauts and their families, at the Kennedy Space Center prior to the launch. Hurley and Behnken were all smiles leading up to the launch — a mission they'd been training for for years. Behnken and Hurley took off from Launch Complex 39A at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX signed an agreement with NASA in 2014 to use the launch complex for the next 20 years. SpaceX and NASA both offered live video coverage of the mission. NASA TV, the agency's livestreaming channel, is still broadcasting coverage. You can watch here. Cameras inside the Crew Dragon spaceship showed Behnken and Hurley strapped into their seats, preparing for launch. The capsule is controlled via touchscreen. The touchscreen took "a little more time to get used to that way of flying a vehicle, certainly, but it wasn't anything that became completely objectionable or was extremely difficult to do," Hurley said during a news conference on May 20. SpaceX's new spacesuits have touchscreen-compatible gloves and were designed to plug into the capsule's seats. But storm clouds gathered around the launch pad on Wednesday, and just 17 minutes before the scheduled liftoff, NASA engineers decided to scrub the launch. Weather conditions, including thunderstorm clouds and a threat of lightning strikes, threatened the safety of the vehicle and astronauts inside. The timing of the launch couldn't be changed, since the rocket must lift off 35 minutes after fueling begins and align perfectly with the location of the space station to minimize fuel use. On Saturday, Behnken and Hurley got ready once again, strapping into the Crew Dragon. Approximately 300,000 people gathered nearby to watch the historic launch. Space.com estimated that about 150,000 people gathered to watch, and Florida Today estimated that the crowd on Saturday was double that from Wednesday. But the full mission would not be declared a success until NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley reached orbit, about 12 minutes after liftoff. Blastoff came at 3:22 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, later named "Endeavor" in an ode to the final space shuttle, flew atop one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets. That was the start of their 19-hour flight to the space station. Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, celebrated the success. After 19 hours of flying through space, the Crew Dragon approached the ISS. The ISS's robotic arm connected with the ship at 10:16 a.m. ET, while flying over northern China and Mongolia. After a roughly two-hour hatch-opening procedure, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley entered the ISS. "It's been a real honor to be a super-small part of this nine-year endeavor, since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station," Hurley said shortly after docking. "We have to congratulate the men and women of SpaceX at Hawthorne, McGregor, and at Kennedy Space Center. Their incredible efforts over the last several years to make this possible cannot go overstated." Behnken and Hurley's mission isn't over yet, though — they'll now spend one to four months on the International Space Station, then return to Earth on the Crew Dragon. Dave Mosher and Morgan McFall-Johnsen contributed reporting.

Chicago is facing criticism for shutting down public transit Sunday amid ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd. The city, which has had a curfew in place since Saturday, suggested people take an Uber instead and tweeted a discount code for $5 off rides. Uber told Business Insider it issued the discount code at the request of the city, which it said was concerned about leaving essential workers stranded. Floyd was killed last week while in police custody, sparking protests across the nation. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The City of Chicago is coming under fire after shutting down public transit amid a citywide curfew and protests over George Floyd's death and encouraging residents use Uber instead. As demonstrations continued on Sunday, the Chicago Transit Authority announced that it would be stopping all buses and trains from 6:30 pm until Monday morning "at the request of public safety officials." Mayor Lori Lightfoot had imposed a curfew a day earlier, which remained in place Sunday evening, NBC Chicago reported, and the decision to suspend public transit with only a few minutes notice prompted swift pushback from residents. "Essential Worker here. Stranded 11 miles from home," one resident tweeted, while others called it "class warfare" and "an intentional trap for protestors." At around midnight, nearly three hours after the curfew had been in effect, the city then tweeted a discount code for $5 off Uber rides in an apparent response to the concerns about stranded workers, saying it said would only be good until 6am Monday morning. UPDATE: If you are in need of a ride, use code CHICAGO2020 to receive $5 off your @Uber. Valid until 6AM Monday. — City of Chicago (@chicago) June 1, 2020 The coupon code was met with similar criticism from residents, who said the high cost of an Uber relative to public transit would unfairly penalize the city's low-income residents and called the response "tone-deaf." Many also criticized the city for seeming to be boosting Uber's business during the middle of protests against police brutality, though the company denied that it was looking to profit. "At the request of the city, which had legitimate concerns about stranding essential workers during a pandemic, we offered a discount on rides," an Uber spokesperson told Business Insider, noting that the company has already been providing free rides for essential workers. Protests have escalated over the past week in cities across America after Floyd was killed while in police custody, and at least 40 cities have imposed curfews, according to CNN. The City of Chicago did not respond to a request for comment on this story.SEE ALSO: As protests over George Floyd's death continue to rage, police in some cities have turned up to demonstrate in solidarity Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak