Bolt declares continued post-pandemic expansion to commemorate its ninth anniversary

Bolt declares continued post-pandemic expansion to commemorate its ninth anniversary.

Bolt, The first super-app in Europe, has revealed that since the pandemic began, revenues have quadrupled and that July was its most profitable month ever.

With the debut of two additional products since the pandemic began, Bolt currently has operations in 45 nations and more than 500 cities throughout Europe and Africa, an increase of more than 200% from the time before the pandemic.

Since the start of 2020, Bolt has increased its global customer base by three times to over 100 million, introduced more than 2 million new drivers to the platform, and more than doubled the size of its staff to over 3000 employees.

Over the past year, the company has also launched a number of additional locations, including an engineering hub in Berlin and a regional hub in Nairobi. It is currently advertising over 350 open positions with the goal of employing 700 more staff members by the end of the year.

The release of these new statistics coincides with Bolt’s ninth birthday since its founding in 2013 in Tallinn, Estonia, by Markus Villig. Markus personally recruited the first drivers to the platform when he was just a teenager on the streets of Tallinn. Since then, he has developed a company with a current market value of €7.6 billion.

The pandemic was the biggest economic shock in generations, so hitting milestones like 100 million customers and operations in over 500 cities are achievements we’re really proud of.

When Bolt was first founded, our mission was to challenge the traditional taxi industry in Tallinn through a new ride-hailing service. Now our size and the range of products we offer put us in a unique position to revolutionise how people move around the cities. By providing an alternative to private cars, we can help create cities that are greener, safer and more pleasant to live in.

It’s important to stay grounded though – rising levels of inflation and interest rates mean we have to be disciplined when assessing how and in what markets we invest. This could mean prioritising growth efforts in our existing markets instead of expanding our services into new countries. Our culture of frugality helped us come out of the pandemic in a strong position, but the challenges are not going to stop and the team is focused on preparing for and responding to them.

Said Markus Villig, CEO and Founder of Bolt.

In 2017, Bolt made its debut in Kenya. Since then, it has had exponential growth, covering more than 0.9 billion kilometers and providing service to over 4 million users across Kenya’s cities and urban centers. In addition to Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nakuru, Naivasha, Eldoret, Kitale, Nyeri, Meru, and Nanyuki, Bolt currently runs in a number of other cities.

In March 2021, during the COVID-19 epidemic, which was marked by lockdowns, curfews, and takeout choices for the majority of establishments, Bolt also debuted its food delivery service in Nairobi. With Bolt Food’s debut into the market, clients now have instant access to a variety of restaurants and menus, increasing their choice of dining establishments. Currently, Bolt Food operates a network of more than 80 estates in Nairobi and its surroundings and over 1,250 of the best eateries in the city where patrons can easily get their preferred food using the app.

We began operations in Kenya five years ago, with a mission to move cities in Kenya in a safe, affordable and sustainable manner. Since then we’ve expanded urban mobility options beyond regular cars to include motorbikes, tuk-tuks, e-bikes, and fully electric vehicles. We have also diversified operations to include food delivery services to offer more convenience to our customers. We continue to witness tremendous growth, and increased demand for mobility services. It has been an exciting journey and we want to thank all our drivers, couriers, restaurant partners and customers for their extraordinary support over the past five years.

Said Kenneth Micah, Bolt’s Regional Manager, Eastern Africa.