Bolt raises €50M in venture debt from the EU to expand its ride-hailing business
0Reported today on TechCrunch
For the full article visit: https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/16/bolt-raises-e50m-in-venture-debt-from-the-eu-to-expand-its-ride-hailing-business/
Bolt raises €50M in venture debt from the EU to expand its ride-hailing business
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.
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.
With this latest money, Bolt has raised over €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.
Bolt further 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.
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. 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).
"Bolt is a good example of European excellence in tech and innovation. 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. "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 non-profit, long-term len