Taxify rebrands, becomes Bolt

A leading European on-demand transportation platform, Taxify, has rebranded, with change of name to Bolt and a new logo.The changes bring the brand identity in line with the company’s broader vision of transportation that has already expanded from ride-hailing, with cars and motorbikes, to scooter sharing.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder of Bolt, Markus Villig, at the unveiling, said Taxify was launched five years ago with a mission to make urban transportation more convenient and affordable. “Our first product was a taxi dispatch solution that gave the company its original name,” Villig said.

The Estonian-born tech company has evolved in leaps and bounds since its inception and now serving 25 million customers in over 30 countries globally, making it a leader in Europe and Africa. It was also the first company to bring ride-hailing and scooter sharing together in one single app and is currently working on expanding the scooter sharing service across a number of European cities.

Regional Manager for West Africa at Bolt, Uche Okafor, disclosed that Taxify outgrew its name and the need to have a name change was necessary so as not to limit the services provided by the platform.“As we are brands with a vision to solve transportation problem on an increasingly broader scale and as such the new name ‘Bolt’ stands for fast, effortless movement and convenience which better represent who we are,” Okafor said.

Bolt was launched in 2013 and is one of the fastest-growing transportation platforms in Europe and Africa with investors including Daimler, Didi Chuxing, Korelya Capital and TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus. Bolt, launched as Taxify in Nigeria in 2017, operates in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Owerri and Benin.