By Pascal Oparada
Social Media/Tech Reporter
Ride-hailing app, Taxify has made a remarkable shift in its business model as it removes taxi from its name.
The Estonia-based company changed its name to Bolt, the name it has been using for its Scooter business in Europe, in order to embrace other forms of transportation including electric cars.
According to the founder, Markus Villing, Taxify was too restrictive for them as they seek to get another round of talks for more funding.
Bolt raised about $175 million last May at a $1 billion valuation led by Daimler, one of its core investors.
According to the CEO, Villing, Bolt means speed as well as electricity.
“We are bullish that the future is fully electric and so we wanted a name that moved us away from the combustion engine,” he said.
The move away from using “taxi” in the name also highlights how the startup intends to widen its remit to cover more than just car-based rides.
Cars may make up the vast majority of Bolt’s service today, but the plan is to add more scooters, other individual transport modes, and, soon public transport links, he said.
It remains to be seen if the new name will resonate with its Nigerian and African markets as most of its riders are used to its old name.
