Bolt, formerly known as Taxify, has raised venture debt of about $56 million from the European Union’s development bank to boost the ride-hailing startup’s presence in Europe.
Bolt raised the new investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and will be used to accelerate Bolt’s expansion across Western Europe.
This funding is just the latest financing Bolt has secured. It has already raised in excess of €200m from Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi and German carmaker Daimler.
Bolt is reportedly planning a further equity raise of about £78m, in addition to the funding package from the EIB.
The Estonian company has continued to expand across Central and Eastern Europe and Africa. In June last year, it launched operations in London in a bid to challenge Uber for dominance in ride-hailing in the capital.
Bolt has expanded to 30 million users in 150 cities since it was founded in 2013.
Johan Bergqvist, Bolt’s finance chief, said European start-ups found it harder to raise large sums to expand, but the EIB’s financing showed it was keen to “support European champions”.
“There is a healthy venture capital environment in Europe, but it is hard when you are a company of Bolt’s size,” Mr Bergqvist said. “The ticket size has become bigger. American and Asian companies have more access to liquidity.”
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, said Europe’s investment plan aimed to support Bolt’s research and development to create new services for urban mobility.
