Bolt says it has invested R3bn since launching its South African operations a decade ago.
Like a number of international companies, ride hailers operating in South Africa are constantly working to demonstrate their value and commitment to the local economy. Investment and time spent in a market are two key metrics in that pursuit.
Estonia-based Bolt began operating locally in April 2016 as Taxify, following an initial pilot a year earlier. The company rebranded to Bolt in early 2019, and has invested €150m (about R2.9bn) in the South African market.
The mobility company, which competes locally with Uber and inDrive, said this underscores the country’s importance as “one of its largest and fastest-growing shared mobility markets globally and signalling further expansion through new funding and safety investments”.
Uber pledged $300m (about R4.9bn) over the next few years “to accelerate South Africa’s mobility and delivery ecosystems” during the South Africa Investment Conference in March.
Bolt has about 40,000 drivers and more than 1.4-million users in the local market as its established base.
However, since entering the market, 30-million passengers have used the platform at least once, with 500,000 drivers having been onboarded.
Bolt says the scale reflects strong consumer demand while also highlighting “the growing role of platform-based work in supporting incomes in a constrained labour market.”
The company also highlights that its investment strategy has increasingly focused on building a broader mobility ecosystem that now includes various modes of transport and expansion into areas such as food delivery or courier services.
Simo Kalajdzic, senior operations manager at Bolt, said, “South Africa has been one of Bolt’s most important markets globally over the past decade. Our R3bn investment reflects not just our growth, but our belief in the role that platform-based mobility plays in driving economic participation. The milestone highlights both the scale of the business and its role in supporting economic activity”.
Formalising the sector
In March, Bolt became the first e-hailing provider to be registered under government’s new transport regulations that seek to formalise a sector that has been fraught with ambiguity, safety concerns and uncertainty for the past decade.
South Africa recently overhauled its transport laws to formally recognise and regulate e-hailing services. The new regulatory framework also aims to modernise the e-hailing sector, improve oversight and enhance safety standards while providing greater certainty for drivers, riders and platform operators.
The changes come via the National Land Transport Amendment Act, which was gazetted in September and introduced a strict 180-day compliance window that ended on March 11.
Bolt said it had been issued a certificate of registration by the National Public Transport Regulator, formally confirming the company’s compliance with the new regulations.
The sector has dealt with issues over the years. Since e-hailing took hold in South Africa a decade ago, the tension between drivers on the platforms and legacy meter taxis has dominated headlines. Tied to this has been safety concerns for consumers, with reports over the years of people being attacked.
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