Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica — Bolt, Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup across Europe and Africa has raised funding series in order to compete Uber and other similar on-demand transportation business.
The startup secured €50 million (roughly $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.
With this newly received funding, 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, as Bolt has confirmed.
Furthermore, Bolt said that its service now has over 30 million users in 150 cities and 35 countries and is profitable in two-thirds of its markets.
“Bolt is a good example of European excellence in tech and innovation. As you say, to stand still is to go backward, and Bolt is never standing still,” said EIB’s vice president, Alexander Stubb, in a statement. “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. In other words, we’re fully on board!”
The EIB is the nonprofit, long-term lending arm of the European Union and this financing in the form of a quasi-equity facility.
Bolt is one of a group of companies that have been established in Estonia, which has worked to position itself as a leader in Europe’s tech industry as part of its own economic regeneration in the decades after existing as part of the Soviet Union (it formally left in 1990). The EIB has invested around €830 million in Estonian projects in the last five years.
“Estonia is at the forefront of digital transformation in Europe,” said Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, in a statement. “I am proud that Europe, through the Investment Plan, supports Estonian platform Bolt’s research and development strategy to create innovative and safe services that will enhance urban mobility.”
Source: techcrunch.com
