Bolt

Bolt is an Estonian mobility company that offers ride-hailing, micromobility rental, food and grocery delivery (via the Bolt Food app), and carsharing services. The company is headquartered in Tallinn and operates in over 500 cities in more than 45 countries in Europe, Africa, Western Asia and Latin America. The company has more than 150 million customers and more than 3 million driver and courier partners. The company has plans for an initial public offering in 2025. History The company was founded in 2013 as Taxify by Markus Villig, then a 19 year-old high-school student. Markus built the prototype of the app while recruiting drivers personally on the streets of Tallinn after receiving a €5000 loan from his family. The service was launched in Tallinn, Estonia in August 2013 and by 2014 it was operating abroad. In April 2017, it expanded to Baku and Malta. In September 2017, Bolt launched its services in London by acquiring a local taxi company with a licence to operate, but was forced by Transport for London to shut down its services. In February 2018, the company has filed a new licence application and relaunched in London in June 2019. In October 2017, it expanded to Paris. In April 2018, it reached 10 million global users. In March 2019, the company changed its name from Taxify to Bolt. In August 2019, the company launched Bolt Food, a food delivery service in Tallinn. It has since expanded to over 80 cities across 20 countries with over 30,000 restaurants using the platform. In September 2019, Bolt announced its "Green Plan", an initiative to reduce its ecological footprint. In March 2019, and in 2020, Bolt was ranked third in the FT 1000: Europe's Fastest Growing Companies published by the Financial Times. In September 2021, Bolt launched a grocery delivery service, Bolt Market. Financing Prior to announcing a strategic partnership with Didi Chuxing, Bolt had raised over €2 million in investment capital from Estonian and Finnish angel investors. In August 2017, Didi Chuxing invested an undisclosed amount believed to be an "eight-figure U.S. dollar sum". A May 2018 funding round with a $175 million investment from Daimler, Didi and others led to a 1 billion dollar valuation for the company, making it a unicorn.