Bolt raises Sh20b for expansion

Bolt, the on-demand mobility platform in Africa, has raised Sh19.8 billion funding from D1 Capital Partners meant to bolster safety and security measures on its platform.

The funds will go into improving safety features like facial recognition and artificial intelligence tools.

“Safety is one of the areas we will continue to grow and innovate for the benefit of our customers. We are planning to launch a more innovative solution, like driver face verification and automatic trip monitoring, using machine learning to prevent potential incidents and ensure the highest quality service for our customers," said Markus Villig, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Bolt.

He added: "We are thrilled to have the D1 Capital Partners with the support of Darsana Capital Partners join the ranks of our backers as this enables us to move faster towards serving many more people in Europe and across the world."

The firm’s app now counts more than 50 million users in over 40 countries across Europe and Africa.