Gotcha, the Charleston company that rents bikes and scooters on college campuses and runs the city’s Holy Spokes bike-share system, said Tuesday it is being acquired in a deal valued at $12 million, including stock.

The buyer is OjO Electric, a ride-sharing company based in Oxnard, California, whose shares trade on the Toronto stock exchange, The Post and Courier reported.

Under the agreement, $6 million will be paid upfront. The rest depends on Gotcha meeting milestones that OjO did not specify. The deal is expected to close before the new year.

Gotcha CEO Sean Flood said OjO’s status as a public company appealed to him because it offers a way to raise capital without venture capital or a much larger transportation company buying in.

“It gives us the ability to raise money in a different way,” Flood said.

Flood will stay on as CEO and expects to remain in Charleston, along with the rest of the staff, he told the newspaper. He does not expect layoffs, and the company may hire in markets where its vehicles are on the road. He expects Gotcha to keep its brand.

What OjO is buying

Gotcha’s app lets riders pick and rent a vehicle from its fleet, which includes bikes, a scooter and an electric tricycle, among others. College campuses are its core business.

The company has exclusive, long-term contracts with 35 universities and 42 municipalities across the country, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

“We did extensive homework to find the right partner to expand our presence while joining our mission to change rideshare for good,” OjO CEO Max Smith said in the release. “Gotcha’s strong corporate culture and experienced team make the company a perfect match for OjO.”

Smith said the exclusive contracts were “particularly attractive.” Both companies prefer markets that are not crowded with electric vehicle companies, the Post and Courier reported. OjO has been operating as a mobility company for about a year and recently launched a seated scooter in Memphis, Tennessee; Dallas; and Austin, Texas.

The combined company will still be smaller than the electric scooter giants Bird and Lime.

A fast year, then trouble

Flood founded Gotcha in Atlanta in 2009 and moved it to Charleston in 2014.

The company had called 2019 its strongest year yet. Gotcha went from 20 agreements with colleges and cities at the end of 2018 to more than 100 in the first six months of 2019, the Post and Courier reported in July. It hired its 120th employee and outgrew its 6,000-square-foot office on Radcliffe Street. In August, Inc. magazine named it the second-fastest growing company in South Carolina, citing revenue growth of 1,572% over three years.

“We’re proving that you can build all this stuff here,” Flood said in July.

Then came setbacks. Tariffs on goods from China, where its vehicles are partly assembled, drove up costs, and the company had technical problems with its app. Several launches were delayed. Gotcha pulled out of Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta and laid off roughly a quarter of its workforce, the newspaper reported.

Flood said the team is now an efficient size.

“I still fully believe in what we’re doing at Gotcha and want to continue what we’re doing,” he said.

What it means for Holy Spokes

In Charleston, Gotcha operates Holy Spokes, a pedal bike-share system introduced in 2017. Gotcha’s motorized vehicles are not available in its hometown because the company has no launch agreement with the city, the Post and Courier reported in July.

No immediate changes to Holy Spokes are expected, Gotcha spokeswoman Caroline Passe said. She said the city will be consulted before any changes are made. Flood said Gotcha expects to roll out motorized bicycles in Charleston sometime next year.

The sale is the second major acquisition this year in Charleston’s technology sector, the Post and Courier reported. In late October, Engage Talent, an artificial intelligence company that helps businesses recruit and keep employees, announced it had found a buyer.