Can Bird build a better scooter before it runs out of cash?

SANTA MONICA,CA - MAY 2, 2019: Bird scooters lay in the street in Santa Monica. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times/TNS)

LOS ANGELES: A year ago, Bird Rides Inc was flying high – and Silicon Valley was betting that it would keep on climbing. 

Thousands of the Santa Monica startup's signature black-and-white scooters appeared on street corners across the world, bought with venture capital and rented to smartphone-toting riders.