The funding is backed in turn by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, as part of a bigger strategy to boost investment in promising companies, and specifically riskier startups, in the tech industry. The EIB is the nonprofit, long-term lending arm of the European Union, and this financing in the form of a quasi-equity facility.Īlso known as venture debt, the financing is structured as a loan, where repayment terms are based on a percentage of future revenue streams, and ownership is not diluted. “The Bank is very happy to support the company in improving its services, as well as allowing it to branch out into new service fields. As you say, to stand still is to go backwards, and Bolt is never standing still,” said EIB’s vice president, Alexander Stubb, in a statement. “Bolt is a good example of European excellence in tech and innovation. Bolt’s existing backers include the Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi, Creandum, G Squared and Daimler (which owns a ride-hailing competitor, Free Now - formerly called MyTaxi). The timing of the last equity round, and the company’s ambitious growth plans, could well mean it will be raising more equity funding again soon. With this latest money, Bolt has raised more than €250 million in funding since opening for business in 2013, and as of its last equity round in July 2019 (when it raised $67 million), it was valued at over $1 billion, which Bolt has confirmed to me remains the valuation here.īolt further said that its service now has more than 30 million users in 150 cities and 35 countries and is profitable in two-thirds of its markets. The company has picked up €50 million (about $56 million) from the European Investment Bank to continue developing its technology and safety features, as well as to expand newer areas of its business, such as food delivery and personal transport like e-scooters. Bolt, the billion-dollar startup out of Estonia that’s building a ride-hailing, scooter and food delivery business across Europe and Africa, has picked up a tranche of funding in its bid to take on Uber and the rest in the world of on-demand transportation.
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