628 million euros… This is the astronomical amount of Bolt’s latest fundraising. Announced in its latest press release, following this round of financing, Bolt is now valued at 7.4 billion euros. This significant increase in value will enable the Estonian company to expand its field of action and conquer other markets. Let’s take a closer look at the Estonian leader’s future ambitions.
Conquering new markets
This new financial success maintains the mobility platform’s growth momentum. But it will allow the Estonian company to improve and expand its range of mobility and delivery services. Indeed, Bolt will use the new funds to strengthen one of its newest services: grocery delivery. The latter was developed and launched during the Covid-19 pandemic and already operates dozens of shops in ten European countries. Called Bolt Market, this online grocery service offers a wide choice of outlets. Indeed, it is possible to find more than 2,000 of them on the Bolt Food application. In just 15 minutes, your order is on your doorstep.
This new investment will rapidly accelerate its expansion in 2022 and expects to have hundreds of shops operational by the end of the year.
PRESS RELEASE, BOLT, 11 JANUARY 2022
From a VTC app to a super app
Founded in 2013 by an Estonian student, Bolt was originally a private chauffeur-driven transport service. Originally named Taxify, in 2017 it partnered with a Chinese technology company that later allowed it to expand into Africa and a few European countries. Then, in 2018, the company added electric scooters to its offering, prompting them in 2019 to change their name. Taxify becomes Bolt, with the desire to expand its services. Bicycles, home meal service, grocery delivery… These services have won over 100 million customers in 45 countries and 400 cities in Europe and Africa.
And the company does not intend to stop there… Does the term super app ring a bell? This is the path Bolt wants to take. A super app is simply an application that brings together a multitude of functions and services on its platform. The aim is to meet all the user’s needs, all via a single medium. The success of this application is well established in Asia, but is still very limited in Europe. Thanks to a second round of funding, the Estonian giant hopes to develop and expand on the European market. But its goal goes further… Bolt wants to become a super app and thus compete with its main opponent: Uber. Beware, however, because the race to become a super app has been underway for many years now, but the road ahead remains long and demanding.
