Estonian startup Bolt said today it had raised €628m from investors led by Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management and Research, taking its valuation to €7.4 billion.
Bolt, a rival of Uber's lift-sharing and food delivery business, last raised funding in August at a valuation of more than €4 billion.
The company also offers electric scooter rentals, car-sharing and a 15-minute grocery delivery service, catering to over 100 million customers in 45 countries and over 400 cities across Europe and Africa.
"We are expanding all the five product lines extremely quickly, developing product R&D and rolling out in new cities," chief executive Markus Villig told Reuters in an interview.
While Uber is the biggest rival for lift-hailing, Bolt faces competitors in food delivery including Just Eat Takeaway.com and DoorDash, which entered Europe via a $8 billion purchase of Wolt.
To gain customers, platforms often offer discounts leading to price wars in some markets.
"In many cases we have been the driving force that actually lowers prices for consumers, so from day one, we were really focused on being frugal," Villig said.
"We have been offering substantially lower prices than anybody else in the industry - we expect this to continue," he added.
Sam Raciti, Regional Manager for Western Europe at Bolt, the funds will allow Bolt to continue to grow, with that growth mirrored in Ireland.
"Our ride-hailing business in Dublin finished 2021 strongly, more than doubling our fleet and more than tripling our passenger base", he said.
"What's more, we’re really excited at the prospect of being able to build some of our other leading mobility products - like our electric scooters and bikes - into our offering and continue to help cities change the way people move around for the better."
