Euwyn Poon
Euwyn Poon | |
|---|---|
 Euwyn Poon, 2026 | |
| Born | December 8, 1984 Singapore |
| Education | Cornell University, Cornell Law School |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Orbital, Spin |
| Title | Founder and CEO |
Euwyn Poon is a Singapore-born entrepreneur who founded Spin,[1][2] a shared electric scooter company based in San Francisco that was acquired by Ford in 2018,[3][4][5] and Orbital, a space technology company building data centers in low Earth orbit.[6] Poon graduated from Cornell University in 2004 at the age of 18 with a degree in Computer Science and Cornell Law School in 2007.[7] After earning a J.D. from Cornell Law School, he practiced M&A and securities law at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett from 2007 to 2009.
Early Startups
[edit]In 2010, Poon founded Opzi[7] which later became the software platform behind the First Round Network.[8]
Orbital
[edit]In 2026, Poon founded Orbital, a Los Angeles-based space technology company developing a constellation of satellite-based data centers in low Earth orbit to run artificial intelligence inference workloads. In April 2026, Orbital announced seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz's early-stage fund, a16z speedrun.[9] The company plans to conduct its first test mission in 2027 via a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch.[10]
Spin
[edit]In 2017, Poon and co-founders Derrick Ko and Zaizhuang Cheng started Spin, which became the first company to launch a shared micro-mobility solution in the United States when it launched orange-colored bicycles with GPS-enabled locks in Seattle in July.[11] In early 2018, Spin introduced electric scooters to its fleet of shared vehicles, which resulted in rapid growth of the business until its acquisition by Ford in November.[12] Spin operated as the micro-mobility unit of Ford as part of Ford Smart Mobility until March 2022, when it was acquired by Berlin based TIER.[13][14]
References
[edit]- ↑ Flynn, Kerry (2018-05-21). "How Spin is marketing itself in the scooter wars". Digiday. Archived from the original on 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
- ↑ Rapier, Graham. "The CEO of a scooter startup bought by Ford reveals how it's getting a leg up on its rivals". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ↑ "Spin, E-Scooter Startup Born of a 2016 Trip to China, Sells to Ford in Multimillion-Dollar Deal". [Inc.com](http://Inc.com). 2018-11-08. Archived from the original on 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". [www.techinasia.com](http://www.techinasia.com). Archived from the original on 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
- ↑ "Ford Acquires Scooter Start-up Spin". Cheddar. Archived from the original on 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
- ↑ Prosser, David (2026-04-14). "Why Orbital Believes Space Is The Next Frontier In The AI Revolution". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
- 1 2 Rao, Leena. "Opzi: A Quora For The Enterprise". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
- ↑ "Does First Round Capital have the most powerful network in the Valley?". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
- ↑ Prosser, David (2026-04-14). "Why Orbital Believes Space Is The Next Frontier In The AI Revolution". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
- ↑ Mann, Tobias (2026-04-15). "Orbital datacenter startup CEO admits launch economics don't fly, presses ahead regardless". The Register. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
- ↑ Lloyd, Sarah Anne (2017-07-17). "Seattle's first dockless bike share is officially here". Curbed Seattle. Archived from the original on 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ↑ "Ford buying San Francisco-area e-scooter startup Spin". Reuters. 2018-11-08. Archived from the original on 2019-01-12. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ↑ "Cheddar Rides: Hitting the Streets with the Scooter Frenzy". Cheddar. Archived from the original on 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- ↑ "Ford sells electric scooter unit Spin to Berlin's Tier". 2 March 2022.