How does Bolt work? Key insights into Bolt Business Model

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How does bolt workBolt is a startup company that offers vehicles for hire, micro mobility, courier, and food delivery services. It is a strong rival of many companies like Uber as it provides on-demand ridesharing of scooters and other transportation services across more than 150 cities in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and some cities in South America.

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In this article, we’ll explore the Bolt business model in detail and get our answers to “How does Bolt work?” and “How does Bolt make money?”.

Bolt- The Beginning

Bolt was earlier named Taxify. It was founded by Markus Villig when he was 19 years old, in 2013. He took €5000 from his parents to start his business. He, along with his parents and a developer, successfully launched the business with the name mTakso in August 2013. A year later, the company went on to foreign shores.

How does Bolt work abroad?

The readers who are curious to know How does Bolt works abroad? Here are few insights into its working model at the beginning which is still being followed. The beginning insights will help you in understanding its working model strategies deeply.

In September 2018, the company launched a dockless electric scooter riding service under the new Bolt brand. After a setback in London, Bolt re-launched in London (in 2019) with 20,000 drivers registered on the Bolt platform. It was this year when Bolt came up with its food delivery service, Bolt Food.

Along with all these initiatives, Bolt came up with an all-new “Green Plan” in that same year. It was Bolt’s initiative to reduce the eco-friendly footprint of the transportation industry and Bolt as a company. This particular plan included balancing Bolt’s contribution to the carbon dioxide emissions of the European transportation sector by at least 5 million tonnes until 2025 and add more options of green ride types for the Bolt passengers.

Due to these incredible strategies, Bolt ranked third in the FT 1000: European’s Fastest-Growing Companies that was published by Financial Times.

How does Bolt make money?- The Beginning

As already mentioned that Bolt was named Taxify in its beginning days. Readers are most curious to know the financial business model of a company and we are here to cover that particular query majorly. To answer this, one must know the starting strategy of Bolt’s earning process. We’ll gradually move on to answer “How does Bolt make money?”

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So, before announcing a strategic partnership with Didi Chuxing (a Chinese vehicle for hire company headquartered in Beijing), Taxify successfully raised €2 million investment from its investors. After that Didi Chuxing invested an undisclosed amount. All this investment led to a funding round collection of around $175 million investment from its investors which led to a 1 billion dollar valuation of the company, making it a unicorn, in May 2018.

Two years later, European Investment Bank signed EUR 50 million venture debt facility with Bolt, started financing it, and finally, European Fund for Strategic Investments started supporting the company to boost the company’s strength in the field of technology improvisations. At the end of that particular year (2020), Bolt raised €150 million from venture capital funds also. This was the beginning of Bolt’s journey towards success.

Bolt Business Model

Taxi or ride-sharing apps are becoming increasingly popular in recent years all around the world. The two most popular companies providing this service are Uber and Bolt.

Bolt, founded in 2013, started as a ride-sharing taxi app and is now gaining attention in the food delivery space in many countries. In February 2020 (last year), Bolt announced a partnership with Google. With the global pandemic, ride-sharing apps faced a downfall globally. But Bolt had a positive mindset at that time also. On one hand, Uber and many more companies announced a job cut off but on the other hand, Bolt made no large cut-offs or salary reductions. With increasing attention to eco-friendly alternatives and decreasing popularity of owning personal cars, Bolt is also planning to head towards more environment-friendly transport alternatives.

Last year in March 2020, Bolt launched a brand new product, Bolt Business Delivery.

Bolt Food Business Model

In recent years, Bolt started its new business in the field of food delivery. The Bolt food delivery platform follows a matchmaking model that provides value to its customers and other local vendors. For the food lovers who prefer enjoying food at home, Bolt Food offers a convenient one-stop solution with deal meal options and local take out. This platform allows the local platform associated with Bolt food to regularly update their food menu while providing customers with an easy payment option.

Bolt Business Delivery

Bolt Business Delivery service allows vendors to deliver their products to their customers affordably using an easy-to-use web interface. Bolt Business Delivery offers the following services

  1. API
  2. On-demand or scheduled deliveries from vendors to customers
  3. Multiple drops off to multiple customers in a single run
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How does Bolt work?

Bolt operates their app to provide services to its customers. The app enables people to book rides using their smartphones. The Bolt application is available for Android, iOS, Windows phones, and AppleGallery for Huawei phones. Riders can choose any payment options from the various other options available. They can choose to pay through cash, credit, debit card, or mobile carrier billing before they can use the Bolt service.

The customer has to request a ride through the app and confirm their pick-up and drop location. Once a Bolt driver accepts the trip, the customer can easily view that particular driver’s name and other car details. After the ride is completed, Both the driver and rider can rate each other on the app.

Bolt has always focused on providing safety to its customers. All the drivers associated with Bolt undergo a criminal background check and in-person training. These drivers should be at least 21 years old with a driver’s license of at least 3 years. The company follows a zero-tolerance policy against alcohol and drug consumption. In Nigeria, Bolt has introduced an SOS button for drivers that send real-time emergencies to Logos State Emergency Response Agency. This feature is provided to London customers also.

How does Bolt Business Delivery work?

Businesses can take advantage of Bolt Business Delivery service using an easy-to-use web interface. Here is a glimpse of its web interface:

  1. Businesses can either upload their CSV or can enter the details manually by filling the above-shown form.
  2. Pick-up orders can be set to be picked up immediately or can be scheduled to be collected within 48 hours.
  3. The user will get an estimated amount as per the order system
  4. Once the details are filled in and the price is confirmed, the company will dispatch a courier to collect the order at the specified time
  5. The courier will then be delivered to the specified location at the specified time.

If the business user is willing to make batch deliveries then that option is also available at the Bolt web interface. Bolt couriers will manage multiple drop-offs to several customers in a single run. Additional to this, a real-time tracking feature is also available on the web interface that ensures that both vendors and customers can stay updated on the progress of the order.

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Business users receive a live status update on their web app and the end-customer gets an SMS letting them know that their delivery is on the way. The SMS received by the end-customer will also contain the estimated time of arrival (ETA) with the Bolt courier’s contact details.

Who are Bolt’s investors?

As per the reports of crunchbase, Bolt has been successful in raising a total funding amount of $616.8 million in about 11 funding rounds and a total of 3 acquisitions. The company has a total number of 27 investors with 7 lead investors. Its last funding type was Convertible note. Bolt has been awarded a Unicorn hub tag because of its enormous success in its starting years which continues to reflect till now.

How does Bolt make money?

For the reading longing to know- “How does Bolt make money?” here are a few of the insights.

Bolt makes money similar to any other ride-sharing app i.e., through its customers. Additional to this, it also provides food delivery services and makes money out of that.

As a ride-sharing app, Bolt takes a commission from drivers per ride. This coming is although 10% less than other platforms providing the same service. Due to this reduction, Bolt customers have to pay fewer and drivers can make more money. The company was built to be cost-effective from the beginning itself that’s the reason behind its less money making out of commission.

As a food delivery app, Bolt charges around Rs. 5 to enable outstanding service from local restaurants. This offers a sharp cut of 25 to 35% that restaurants have to pay to other aggregators. Many local restaurants are joining the Bolt Food partner program as it offers low delivery charges and has a business-friendly approach. The company follows a trustworthy business model without any Chinese funding making it a perfect match for local businesses to register themself with the platform.

How to Launch Your Own Business Similar to Bolt?

If you’re willing to start your vehicles for hire and food delivery services platform similar to Bolt – you should go with Bolt Clone which has customized features to let you roll with your vehicles for hire and food delivery services platform business.

Here are some other informative articles explained by NCrypted Websites:

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  2. The First Class of The Indian Internet Startups
  3. Illuminating Insights: What Is a Startup?

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A content writer also known as a blogging expert comes with 4 years of experience, specialized herself with all the command over the business models and industry updates

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