Outsmarting Uber: Why Bolt Wins in Europe
What does it take to build a global mobility company from a country of just 1.3 million people?
Markus Villig, founder and CEO of Bolt, joins the show to share how he scaled from Estonia to 50+ countries, navigating early scrappy days, a near-bankruptcy from expanding too fast, and the hard-won lessons behind Bolt’s capital-efficient growth.
They also discuss building in Europe vs. the U.S., competing against much better-funded rivals, and why culture and ambition matter more than regulation.
Finally, Markus lays out what’s next: autonomy, robotaxis, and why the future of mobility will be a hybrid of human drivers and self-driving fleets.
Resources:
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20VC: Bolt; The Most Insane Story in Startups | Turning a $5K Loan into an $8BN Company | Why Every VC Turned Down One of Europe's Biggest Winners | Competing with Uber & The Future of Micromobility and Self-Driving
Markus Villig is the Founder and CEO of Bolt, a global mobility platform with more than 200 million lifetime customers in more than 50 countries and 600 cities. Bolt has raised over €1 billion in funding from investors like Sequoia, D1 and G Squared, making Markus the youngest founder of a billion-dollar company in Europe.
In Today's Episode with Markus Villig:
1. Starting an $8BN Company:
How did Markus come up with the idea for Bolt before Uber existed?
How did Markus find his co-founder? Why did 30 people turn down the chance to co-found Bolt? What are Markus' biggest tips on finding a co-founder?
How did Markus use a $5K loan from his parents as the pre-seed round?
How did Markus get the first riders for Bolt? What worked? What did not work?
How did Markus get the first driver for Bolt? What worked? What did not work?
2. Expanding to be a Global Champion:
How did Markus expand Bolt to $10M in ARR on just $1M of funding?
What did the international expansion playbook look like? What worked? What did not work? How has it changed over time?
What one simple change led to their becoming the leader in Africa?
What was the best country to launch? What was the worst?
What is the most profitable country today? What is the least?
3. The $8BN Company that no VC Wanted to Fund:
Why did every large VC in Europe turn down Bolt early on?
How did a real estate company in the Baltics save Bolt with lifeline funding?
When did Sequoia come into the mix? Does Sequoia move the needle for your company when they invest?
How do New York financially driven investors differ to the traditional VC ecosystem?
What would Markus most like to change about the world of VC?
4. The Future: Micromobility, Self-Driving Cars, Uber:
Will the rise of self-driving cars harm or help companies like Bolt and Uber?
What is the future for micromobility? Does it cannibalise the core business for Bolt and Uber?
What is Uber better at Bolt doing? What are Uber worse at than Bolt? How will that change moving forward?
Waymo, buy or short? Why?