eCommerce Checkout Company Bolt Raises $90 Million

By Dan Anderson ● Jul 11, 2019
  • Bolt, a company that is simplifying the checkout experience for retailers online, has announced several milestones
  • The company’s annualized payment processing volume hit more than $1 billion and it conducted more than 1.5 million transactions
  • And Bolt raised $68 million in Series B

Bolt — a company that is simplifying the checkout experience for online retailers — has announced several milestones this week. Bolt has achieved an annualized payment processing volume of more than $1 billion and conducted more than 1.5 million transactions through its platform. This helped customers realize more than $25 million in new revenue through the company’s dynamically optimized checkout and conversion-focused fraud detection. 

Plus Bolt also expanded from ten people working out of a loft in San Francisco to more than 125 employees across three offices. Bolt is attracting employees from experiences at companies like Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Braintree.

Bolt also raised an additional $68 million in Series B funding as part of a round co-led by Activant Capital and Tribe Capital. Including this round, Bolt has raised $90 million total.

“Bolt is the first company to give online retailers a single product for managing the most important part of their business: checkout,” said Activant Capital founder and partner Steven Sarracino. “They’ve assembled the most elite product and engineering team I’ve ever seen to tackle some of the biggest problems in online retail, and have a breakthrough approach to fraud detection and checkout speed. The moment I was introduced to Bolt, I knew immediately that the company would be the missing piece of the e-commerce ecosystem that we’ve been waiting for.”

And Bolt is going to use the funding for scaling engineering, investing in additional enterprise functionality for large retailers, partner with additional eCommerce tools, build advanced features around the shopping experience, and expand global functionality.

“We’re also excited to welcome personal investments from some of the biggest names in retail, who’ve recognized the potential of the Bolt platform. Benny Joseph (Allbirds), Jon Tam (REVOLVE), Dave Heath (Bombas), Kevin Weinman (Burrow), Brett Jackson (former Crocs), Kelly Cooper (former Athleta),  Paul Zaengle (Stance), Kevin Han (former Forever 21), Evan DiMeglio (Jet.com), Melissa Mash (Dagne Dover), are just some of the retail experts personally investing in Bolt because they believe in our mission,” wrote Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow in a blog post.

“After working in retail for a decade, I’ve seen first hand the challenges associated with online shopping, both on the backend and when it comes to the shopper experience. Bolt is tackling all this and more, which is why I’m excited for the company and its mission. This is just the beginning for Bolt as they build out their product and partner with more of the retailers we all know and love,” added Revolve Clothing’s director of operations Jonathan Tam.

In the past, retailers had to patch together multiple solutions for powering their website’s buying experience. Bolt’s solution — which includes payments and fraud detection — is an all-in-one solution.

Breslow also pointed out that DITA Eyewear, HUF Worldwide, and Polywood are among the online retailers that recently selected Bolt for transforming the way products are sold online.

“Any business that isn’t using Bolt is at a competitive disadvantage. Bolt has not only found us significant new revenue, they have an incredible team that’s served as a true partner to Dita every step of the way. We believe in the Bolt vision and think that without a doubt, there are big things ahead for the company,” explained DITA Eyewear’s VP of Global eCommerce Cody Cho.