Spin was founded in 2016 as Skinny Labs, Inc. and announced in January 2017, hoping to bring Chinese-style dock-less bicycle sharing to the United States.

[1] Spin raised $8 million in Series A venture capital financing led by Grishin Robotics in May, during preparation for a wider rollout in other cities.

[3] Spin debuted with 500 bicycles in Seattle, and exceeded 5,000 rides during its first week in operation, surpassing the city's former bicycle-sharing system, Pronto Cycle Share.

[4] In late July, Spin announced plans to expand to South San Francisco, California, as part of a larger national rollout.

[12] Spin announced in 2019 that in August that year it would deploy 15,000 scooters in Portland, Los Angeles, Denver, Washington, DC, Kansas City, Memphis, and Minneapolis.

[15][16] In late August 2020, the company continued international expansion by launching in the United Kingdom, starting with Milton Keynes followed by Essex.

[21] In January 2022, Spin announced its closure of all operations across Germany, Spain, France and Portugal as well as select North American markets due to low profitability.