PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Estonia’s Bolt App Nets $714M to Scale Its Shared Mobility Platform

Bolt, Estonia, ridesharing

Tallinn, Estonia-based “super app” Bolt has announced its biggest funding round yet, according to a company blog post Tuesday (Jan. 11).

The investment for 628 million euros ($714 million) was led by Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC with participation from Whale Rock, Owl Rock, D1, G Squared, Tekne, Ghisallo and others.

The company’s value is now at 7.4 billion euros ($8.4 billion).

Bolt’s idea is to keep on building cities that work more with environmentally friendly ideas, which will come through cutting congestion and pollution, along with augmenting more green spaces.

Bolt’s overall vision is to use shared mobility to make it easier for city dwellers to move around in a more responsible way. The round will go toward more scaling and acceleration of the transition from owned cars to more city mobility.

“For decades, cities have been built for cars, not people,” Markus Villig, founder and CEO at Bolt, said in the announcement. “That has led to unsustainable traffic, pollution and loss of public space to parking places. We think this approach is outdated.

“Over the past eight years, we have developed products that offer better and more affordable alternatives for almost every purpose a private car serves. We’re partnering with cities to help people make the switch towards light vehicles such as scooters and eBikes and shared mobility options like ride-hailing and car-sharing to transform urban areas back into sustainable, people-friendly spaces.”

Bolt announced in December that it would be debuting several new safety features on its scooter sharing network.

PYMNTS writes that Bolt was recently eyeing a $14 billion valuation along with almost $400 million in funding. That comes after the company had a Series E fundraiser for $400 million, making its valuation at the time $11 billion.

Related: Headless Commerce Startup Bolt Eyes $14B Valuation

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024