Bolt to launch e-scooters after Sh19.8 billion capital injection

By ELIZABETH KIVUVA
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Summary

• Bolt Kenya country manager Olaoluwa Akinnusi said the company will expand its network beyond the 16 urban centres it operates and introduce the electric scooters.
• This comes after Bolt, the global company, received Sh19.8 billion from private equity firm, D1 Capital Partners, which will also be for invested in security tools and expansion of food delivery business.
• The plan involves inclusion of facial verification tools to prevent sharing of the driver’s platforms and improve security.

Taxi hailing services Bolt Kenya is set to launch e-scooter rental business and expand to smaller towns and peri-urban centres on the back of billions of shillings raised from US private equity firm.

Bolt Kenya country manager Olaoluwa Akinnusi said the company will expand its network beyond the 16 urban centres it operates and introduce the electric scooters.

This comes after Bolt, the global company, received Sh19.8 billion from private equity firm, D1 Capital Partners, which will also be for invested in security tools and expansion of food delivery business.

The plan involves inclusion of facial verification tools to prevent sharing of the driver’s platforms and improve security.

The company is also pushing for e-scooters, a two-wheeled vehicle running on small rechargeable batteries, for short-hop trips in the city or delivery, serving as an alternative to motorbikes.

Electric scooters, which are cheaper than normal car rides, are fully functional in Europe and were recently launched in South Africa.

Users will be able to hire the self-driven e-scooters via the smartphone app, in a similar way to car rides.

Bolt is betting on the expected switch from taxis and public transport to open-air e-scooters that are self-driven amid the coronavirus crisis.

Taxi hailing services reckon that lack of infrastructure to support the e-scooters remains a barrier to their large scale rollout.

Bolt will also be expanding its services to other peri-urban towns and pump up its food delivery business, Bolt Food, launched last week, taking on its competitors including Jumia Food, Uber Eats and Glovo.