The shared micromobility startup is on the hunt for acquisitions. And on the wishes list of CEO Frederik Hjelm is Bolt, the super-app European mobility known for the trip.
Not the Bolt micro time business is necessarily on sale, despite the speech of You who buy the company Scooter and bike arm. Bolt refused to comment when Techcrunch reached.
“Bolt is a great company, but they are mainly a ride Company, “Hjelm said to Techcrunch on stage at the round table of Micromobility Industries in Brussels, where he was achieved by the co-ced co-ced Michael Washinushi and by the CEO of Dr. Henri Moissinac.
Hjelm said that Bolt’s challenge is that it must be “extremely good in different verticals”. Apart from the trip, Bolt offers grocery and food delivery, as well as car rentals.
“Micromobility is very difficult and has a hardware appearance, but no network effects such as the way in which the delivery and transport of rides (they can lead to the delivery of food,” Hjelm said.
He noticed that most people who collect an e-bici scooter without docks are clubs that give priority to experience and convenience rather than the ability to use a “super app” as Bolt.
When you provide an example of cyclists who use micromobility services because they recognize the brand – and they may not want to download another app – it has attacked this thesis. Hjelm said not to think that the recognition of the brand is sufficient to compensate for a worst user experience.
Of course, there are no data that show that you offer a better user experience than Bolt. This did not prevent others on the panel from joining the pile of bolts.
“Bolt uses the price as the leader of the loss,” said Washinushi di Bird, referring to the Bolt’s ability to rely on the revenue of his other operations to grow his micromability activity. “They serve the price, and that’s how they acquire installations. My meaning is that they do not make a huge investment in … excellent operations in micromability.”
Washinushi has noticed that Bird, as well as Dott and you, use a lot of data to rebalance the vehicles.
“You can download thousands of vehicles and hope that people get rides, or you can … place half of those vehicles in the right place and the right time to optimize races and optimize the price,” he said. “And this is (how) the business has really evolved in the last two or three years … this, for us, makes it a business very self -sufficient.”
In 2024, Bird said he had reached the EBITDA profitability rectified by $ 19 million – a company for a company he had deleted from the stock market and presented for failure Two years ago. You too has reached his first year profitable Last year with Rectified Ebitda of $ 17.9 million.
Bolt did not share financial numbers for his micromability activity. In November 2024, the company said he hit $ 2.11 billion in annual revenue Through his company units, but he did not share what he has lost. Second Local relationshipsBolt recorded income of about $ 2 billion in 2023 with an operational loss of $ 108 million.
Techcrunch attempted to follow Wednesday with Hjelm on why he would have liked to acquire Bolt and if he was in negotiations with the company.
“I am at the meeting of the mafia of the Swedish house and tomorrow I will think of Bolt,” he replied.
Techcrunch will update this story if Hjelm has anything else to say about the matter.
