Bolt announces €628 million investment round

Credit: Bolt

Bolt, the European micro-mobility app, has announced its largest ever funding round to further scale its existing products and accelerate the transition from owned cars to shared mobility in cities. The €628 million investment round takes Bolt’s valuation to €7.4 billion.

“For decades, cities have been built for cars, not people. That has led to unsustainable traffic, pollution and loss of public space to parking places. We think that this approach is outdated,” said Markus Villig, Founder and CEO at Bolt. “Over the past eight years, we have developed products that offer better and more affordable alternatives for almost every purpose that a private car serves. We’re partnering with cities to help people to make the switch towards light vehicles, such as scooters and e-bikes, and shared mobility options, like ride-hailing and car-sharing, to transform urban areas back into sustainable, people-friendly spaces. That’s why we’re pleased to announce this new round of funding – the biggest in our history – which will help us to build a future in which cities have less congestion, less pollution and more green spaces where people can easily move around in a safe and sustainable way.”

This news follows Bolt’s recent announcement of a range of new safety features to be incorporated on its scooter-sharing network, the largest in Europe, demonstrating how the company is a reliable partner for cities. These features include a tandem riding prevention system, which can detect more than one person riding a scooter at the same time; a cognitive reaction test to ensure that riders stay as safe as possible; and a skid prevention system, meaning that scooters are only used in a safe and responsible manner.

Scooter-sharing is just one part of Bolt’s suite of mobility and delivery products, which are currently used by more than 100 million customers in 45 countries and over 400 cities across Europe and Africa. Other products also include its ride-hailing service; car-sharing service Bolt Drive; Bolt Food, which enables customers to order meals from restaurants; and Bolt Market, a 15-minute grocery delivery service. 

Bolt Market, one of the company’s newest products, was developed and launched during the pandemic and already operates dozens of stores in ten countries across Europe. With this new investment, Bolt will accelerate its expansion rapidly in 2022 and plans to have hundreds of stores operational by the end of the year.