European micromobility company Bolt has closed a €628m funding round, its largest to date, to accelerate its mission to help cities transform urban areas into sustainable, people-friendly spaces.

The company wants to help people move around safely, affordably and conveniently. The investment round was led by Sequoia and Fidelity Management and increased Bolt’s valuation to €7.4bn.

For the past eight years, the company has striven to prove the point that owning a personal car is no longer a necessity. It has done this through expanding its ecosystem of products, from ride-hailing, e-scooter and e-bike rental, to car-sharing, food and grocery delivery.

Its goal is to build a future in which cities need fewer parking spaces, have less congestion and lower emissions, and where people can easily move around in a safe and sustainable way.

“For decades, cities have been built for private cars, rather than the people living and working in them,” said Markus Villig, Bolt founder and CEO. “At Bolt, we think this approach is outdated, which is why our mission is to create cities for people, not cars. We’ve developed products that offer better and more affordable alternatives for almost every purpose a private car serves. We’re committed to working with cities to help people make the switch towards shared mobility options like ride-hailing and light vehicles to transform urban areas into sustainable, people-friendly spaces.”

Bolt will also use these funds to expand and improve its suite of mobility and delivery products, which are used by more than 100 million customers in 45 countries and over 400 cities across Europe and Africa.

One example is Bolt Market, one of its newest products, developed and launched during the pandemic and already operating dozens of stores in ten countries across Europe. It offers grocery deliveries in 15 minutes via the Bolt Food app. This investment will help it accelerate its expansion rapidly in 2022 as it plans to have hundreds of stores operational by the end of the year.