Bolt Financial
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fintech |
| Founded | January 2014 in San Francisco |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | San Francisco |
Area served | North America, Europe |
Key people | Ryan Breslow (Chairman) Maju Kuruvilla (CEO) |
| Products | Bolt CheckoutOS Bolt SSO Commerce Commerce Everywhere |
Number of employees | 500+ |
| Website | bolt |
Bolt Financial Inc. (Bolt) is an American financial technology company that provides merchants with software to facilitate one-click online checkouts. It was founded in 2014 in San Francisco.[1][2]
History
[edit]Bolt was founded by Stanford University computer science students Ryan Breslow and Eric Feldman in 2014. Their goal was to simplify online checkout for consumers and help independent retailers compete with Amazon, which held the patent on one-click checkout until 2017.[3] The company initially operated out of Breslow's dorm room.[4][5]
In 2021, the company entered into partnerships with its first European clients[6] and acquired Tipser, a technology company based in Sweden.[7]
In December 2021, it raised $393 million, bringing Bolt's total funding to almost $1 billion. Its valuation was $11bn as of January 2022.[1][8]
In February 2022, Maju Kuruvilla was named CEO.[9]
In February 2024, Bolt had under 700 employees, and was valued at approximately $300 million - a 97% decrease in price from 21 months prior.[10]
Bolt announced in August 2024 that it was seeking a $450 million investment, raising capital from its lead investor The London Fund.[11] Instead of cash, the fundraising partly involved The London Fund pledging up to $250m in influencer marketing credits.[12] However, a publication by Axios revealed that, out of the twenty active portfolio companies listed on The London Fund website, none of the fund's portfolio companies had "never heard of The London Fund".[12][13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Fintech Startup Bolt Sees Valuation Surge to $6 Billion". Bloomberg.com (News). 2021-10-12. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
- ^ Bertoni, Steve (April 4, 2022). "Millennial Billionaire Ryan Breslow Created Buzz, And Enemies, Attacking Stripe And Shopify. He's Just Getting Started". Forbes. p. 1. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ Morris, David Z. "Checkout Startup Raises $65 Million to Help Smaller Retailers Take On Amazon". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
- ^ Pickert, Sophie Alexander and Reade (2019-03-11). "Unicorn factory: The university where dropouts start billion-dollar companies". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
- ^ Kauflin, Jeff. "The Future Of Payments: Fintech 50 2021". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ Hall, Christine (2022-01-14). "Fresh round of $355M lifts online checkout company Bolt into decacorn territory". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ Hall, Christine. "Bolt makes first acquisition with Tipser, launches 'Remote Checkout'". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ "Startup Bolt Nearly Doubles Valuation to $11 Billion". Bloomberg.com (News). 2022-01-14. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
- ^ "Meet Maju Kuruvilla, the new Indian-origin CEO of fintech startup Bolt". www.businessinsider.in. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
- ^ Weinberg, Cory; Woo, Erin; Mascarenhas, Natasha (2024-02-12). "Bolt, Once Worth $11 Billion, Slashes Share Price 97% in Buyback". The Information. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
- ^ Deutscher, Maria (20 August 2024). "Fintech startup Bolt reportedly raising $450M at $14B valuation". Silicon Angle.
- ^ a b Reynolds, John (30 August 2024). "Questions raised about portfolio of London VC firm backing Bolt's proposed $450m fundraise". Tech EU.
- ^ Primack, Dan (28 August 2024). "Bolt's big deal comes under new scrutiny". Axios.