First ride-hailing, then e-scooters – now Bolt is boosting grocery delivery. In August 2021, the company announced €600m (£505m, $445m) from a consortium of investors. This, a year after announcing €100m to bring 130,000 e-scooters to more than 100 cities in Europe. The company, which is a rival to Uber, said it was logical to expect that consumers would switch from taxis and public transport to e-scooters amid the Covid pandemic, but evidence of this is yet to be seen.

Bolt isn’t the only player. Berlin-based e-scooter start-up Tier Mobility acquired European bike-share leader nextbike in November 2021 – a deal that would serve 400 cities with 250,000 vehicles.

Tier said it is valued at $2bn and counts investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital and White Star Capital.

Bolt said the new round of funding from Sequoia, Tekne, Ghisallo, G Squared, D1 Capital and Naya increased its valuation to more than €4bn. Naya was also behind a €100m investment announced in May 2020.

Founded in 2013, Bolt is headquartered in Estonia and boasts more than 75 million users in over 45 countries.

Further reading: SoftBank makes first e-scooter investment