Bolt’s story began in 2013 when Markus was a 19-year-old teenager in Tallinn, Estonia. Like most of his friends he didn’t have a driving licence or a desire to drive, but the taxi service which they relied upon in Tallinn was plagued by unreliability, high prices and poor customer service. After a semester at university, Markus dropped out and set about fixing this broken industry. He borrowed an initial €5000 from his parents and walked the streets of Tallinn recruiting taxi drivers by day and building the first version of the Bolt app at night. He eventually launched the company with 50 drivers that he’d personally recruited on the streets of Tallinn. Later, Markus’ brother Martin, and technical co-founder Oliver Leisalu, joined the team to build and scale what has become the fastest-growing technology business in European history.

Bolt now has over 100 million customers in more than 45 countries and 400 cities across Europe and Africa and offers a range of mobility products including ride-hailing, scooter and e-bike rentals, food delivery, grocery delivery and car-rentals. Markus is the youngest founder of a billion-dollar company in Europe and has been featured as the youngest tech CEO in Forbes Europe’s 30 under 30 list. When he is not working, Markus enjoys reading, hiking and playing chess. He still does not have a driving licence.


For more information on Bolt, please visit here.

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