Uber and Lyft have won a key battleground in the electric scooter wars — and it's a huge blow to the $2 billion startup that created the scooter phenomenon

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

• In an effort to curb the onslaught of electric scooters, Santa Monica, California, is moving to limit the number of companies that can operate dockless vehicles there.
• An internal memo reveals that a City Council committee endorsed Lyft and Uber for permits — handing a crushing defeat for dedicated scooter operators Bird and Lime.
• Santa Monica was the ground zero for electric scooters, because $2 billion startup Bird rolled out the first scooter-share program nationwide in the coastal city last fall.

In the south Californian city of Santa Monica, the electric scooters that cover the city's streets and sidewalks disappeared on Tuesday in protest of the city's move to block two venture-backed startups from operating.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: How Lyft's president went from taking no salary for 3 years to running a giant startup worth $11 billion

See Also:

• A 183-year-old law created for horse-drawn carriages has frustrated Silicon Valley's buzziest startups
• A startling photo of abandoned Birds shows the electric-scooter backlash has begun
• New York City just voted to cap the number of Uber and Lyft drivers and will enforce a minimum wage for drivers