Bolt: Supercharging Online Businesses and Turning Shoppers into Lifetime Customers

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One-click checkout has emerged as a game-changing technological solution in the world of e-commerce. With this revolutionary solution, online businesses can simplify their checkout process and reduce the likelihood of cart abandonment, resulting in increased sales. Every e-commerce store looks forward to deploying this solution to improve customer experience and ignite conversion rates.

Years ago, Amazon solely had patent rights to a one-click checkout solution. But things changed, and a US-based startup, Bolt Financial Inc., developed its own one-click, lightning-fast checkout software.

Let’s read more about Bolt’s journey, funding, partners, products, growth, competitors, and more.

Bolt – Company Highlights

About Bolt
Bolt – Industry
Bolt – Founders and Team
Bolt – Startup Story
Bolt – Mission and Vision
Bolt – Business Model
Bolt – Products and Services
Bolt – Challenges Faced
Bolt – Funding and Investors
Bolt – Mergers and Acquisitions
Bolt – Growth
Bolt – Partners
Bolt – Awards and Achievements
Bolt – Competitors

About Bolt

Bolt Financial Inc. (Bolt) is a financial technology company providing mobile-read checkout software designed for e-commerce sites to incorporate sales analysis, process online payments, and prevent fraud. The software helps retailers strengthen their relationships with shoppers by unlocking lightning-fast, secure, logged-in, one-click checkout.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Bolt works in Salt Lake City and Stockholm while serving about 250 merchants and processing nearly $500 million in sales annually. Moreover, around 5.6 million shoppers have signed onto Bolt’s network.

Bolt – Industry

Bolt operates in the fintech industry, the global market size of which was estimated at $110.57 billion in 2020 and is forecasted to grow to $698.49 billion by 2030. The market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20.3% from 2021 to 2030. Government around the world is supporting fintech tools, platforms, and solutions to increase financial inclusion resulting in industry growth.

Moreover, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for digital payment services increased. And the companies like Google Pay and PayPal witnessed a considerable increase in customers and digital transactions. Other key players in the fintech industry are Ant Group, Stripe, Inc., Intuit, Inc., Coinbase, and Adyen Group.

Bolt – Founders and Team

Ryan Breslow and Eric Feldman are the co-founders of Bolt.

Ryan Breslow

Ryan Breslow is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Bolt. He completed his graduation in Computer Science from Stanford University. Ryan has founded multiple companies, including The Movement, Sites by Hand, Prism, Eco, and Love. Moreover, he invested in Cove PBC, Terzo, Permanent, and Green Carbon.

Eric Feldman

Eric Feldman co-founded Bolt but left the company in 2017. He graduated with Ryan Breslow from Stanford University in Computer Science. Moreover, Eric invested in different companies, including Gradia Health, SphereOne, Practice, Rocket Academy, and FrontRow.

Bolt Team

Maju Kuruvilla

Maju Kuruvilla is the CEO of Bolt. He is a Computer Engineering graduate from Mangalore University and an MBA from the University of Washington. Before being appointed as Bolt’s CEO, he was the company’s COO. Additionally, Maju worked as VP at Amazon, CTO at Milliman, and Software Engineer at Microsoft and Honeywell.

• Tina Fan – Chief Customer Officer
• Scott Stockberger - Chief Financial Officer
• Bob Buch – Chief Business Officer
• Tom Berger – VP of Marketing

Currently, Bolt employs approximately 1,000+ employees.

Bolt – Startup Story

Bolt was founded in 2014 by Ryan Breslow and Eric Feldman. Ryan and his friends at Stanford used to mine Bitcoin out of their dorm rooms, but he dropped out to start Bolt with a fellow student, Eric Feldman. Their main motive was to simplify online checkout for consumers and help independent retailers compete with Amazon, the only company with a patent on one-click checkout until 2017. The startup operated out of Ryan’s dorm room. Bolt started as a Bitcoin wallet company but, after some time, pivoted to e-commerce payments.

In mid-2016, the company officially launched its first merchant with the payment solution. In 2018, it began publicly pitching merchants on its fraud protection solution. Bolt launched an Amazon-like checkout in 2019. A year later, in 2020, it launched the ‘Retailers Give Back’ Index. In 2021, Bolt launched the Single Store Account and Payment for e-commerce merchants. The company introduced Virtual Shopper Assistant in October 2022.

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Bolt – Mission and Vision

The company’s mission is to democratize commerce. Its vision is to set new standards for e-commerce.

Bolt – Business Model

Bolt is a mobile-read checkout software that handles online payments for e-commerce retailers, offers fraud protection, and allows customers to buy products with a single click. This one-click checkout software could be plugged into the existing payment platform of any business to convert more shoppers into buyers. The software allows customers to login into e-commerce sites without a password and instantly checkout.

Moreover, Bolt is fully equipped to support messages, gifts, gift cards, redeem discounts, and easily handle shipping. The company claims that Bolt’s integrated functions can help businesses cut their checkout times from more than one minute to 30 seconds.

Bolt – Products and Services

The product offerings of Bolt include the following:

• The Bolt Network
• One Click Checkout
• Account Creation
• Fraud Protection
• Bolt SSO
• Goodbye, Guest Checkout
• Bolt Payments
• Merchant Analytics
• Product Releases
• Checkout Everywhere

Bolt – Challenges Faced

It’s been reported that Bolt often overstated its technological capability and misrepresented the number of merchants using its services in a rush to show growth. Moreover, in the investors’ presentations, the company listed customers before verifying whether those merchants were able to use its technology. In November 2021, one of the company’s biggest customers, Authentic Brands Group, sued it for failing to deliver the technological capabilities it held out as processing.

Even in January 2022, Ryan Breslow abruptly stepped down as chief executive, blindsiding some investors who had invested money into Bolt weeks earlier. Some investors were looking to sell their stakes with customers questioning the company’s technology. In April 2022, Bolt announced a three-month hiring freeze in the staff meeting.

Bolt – Funding and Investors

Bolt has raised $972.1 million over 10 funding rounds. Its latest funding round – Secondary Market Round, was conducted on January 19, 2022. General Atlantic, Westcap, Axevil Capital, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, and Activant Capital are some leading investors funding the company.

Bolt – Mergers and Acquisitions

Bolt acquired Tipser on November 24, 2021.

Bolt – Growth

The post-money valuation of Bolt is discussed below:

Its revenue in 2021 was roughly $30 million, and it made $7.2 million in Q1 of 2022. From 10 employees in 2018, the company’s team size has grown to 800 in 2022.

Bolt – Partners

Bolt has collaborated with the following e-commerce platforms, agencies, and solution integrators:

• BigCommerce
• WooCommerce
• Adobe Commerce
• Born
• Merkle
• 1Digital
• Overdose
• Tadpull
• Salesforce

Bolt – Awards and Achievements

During the journey, Bolt has built an award-winning culture and workplace, with the company being recognized by industry leaders. It is honored by the following listed awards:

• Forbes 2019 Fintech50
• Fintech 250 by CB Insights
• 2020 Inc. Best Workplaces
• Entrepreneur 360 Bolt
• Fortune Best Workplaces in the Bay Area 2020
• Great Places to Work (Certified APR 2021 – APR 2022 USA)

Bolt – Competitors

Below listed are some main competitors of Bolt:

• PayPal
• Stripe Connect
• Signifyd
• Apple Pay
• Amazon Pay
• Checkout.com

FAQs

What is Bolt Financial Inc.?

Bolt Financial Inc. (Bolt) is a financial technology company providing mobile-read checkout software designed for e-commerce sites to incorporate sales analysis, process online payments, and prevent fraud.

Who are the founders of Bolt Financial Inc.?

Ryan Breslow and Eric Feldman are the co-founders of Bolt.

Who is the CEO of Bolt Financial Inc.?

Maju Kuruvilla is the CEO of Bolt.

Who are the main competitors of Bolt Financial Inc.?

The main competitors of Bolt Financial Inc. include PayPal, Stripe Connect, Signifyd, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and Checkout.com.