Bolt, the leading ride-hailing platform in Ghana, has announced its largest-ever funding round to further scale its existing products and accelerate the transition from owned cars to shared mobility in cities.

The €628 million investment takes Bolt’s valuation to €7.4 billion.

Markus Villig, founder and CEO at Bolt said, “For decades, cities have been built for cars, not people. That has led to unsustainable traffic, pollution, and loss of public space to parking places. We think this approach is outdated.

Over the past eight years, we have developed products that offer better and more affordable alternatives for almost every purpose a private car serves.

"We’re partnering with cities to help people make the switch towards light vehicles and shared mobility options like ride-hailing and car-sharing to transform urban areas back into sustainable, people-friendly spaces.”

“That’s why we’re pleased to announce this new round of funding – the biggest in our history – which will help us build a future in which cities have less congestion, less pollution and more green spaces where people can easily move around in a safe and sustainable way,” Markus Villig added.

This announcement comes after Bolt announced a range of new safety features to be incorporated on its scooter-sharing network, the largest in Europe, demonstrating how the company is a reliable partner for cities.

Scooter-sharing is just one part of Bolt’s suite of mobility and delivery products, which are currently used by more than 100 million customers in 45 countries and over 400 cities across Europe and Africa.

Other products also include its ride-hailing service; car-sharing service Bolt Drive; Bolt Food, which enables customers to order meals from restaurants; and Bolt Market, a 15-minute grocery delivery service that is yet to be launched on the Ghanaian market.

Bolt Market, one of the company’s newest products, was developed and launched during the pandemic and already operates dozens of stores in ten countries across Europe.

With this new investment Bolt will accelerate its expansion rapidly in 2022 and plans to have hundreds of stores operational by the end of the year.