Our Story

Pre-Bolt

Prior to founding Bolt, our Founder and Executive Chairman, Ryan, spent years familiarizing himself with online checkout from the inside-out. Starting in high school, Ryan spent six years building Ecommerce sites for businesses of all sizes—from small mom-and-pop shops to large corporations. It was during this time that he experienced first-hand the shortcomings of the online commerce space, which inspired him to design a better alternative.

At Stanford

While enrolled in Stanford’s Computer Science program, Ryan co-founded the Stanford Bitcoin Group, spearheading research into crypto-currencies, blockchain technologies, and alternative financial systems.

Founding Bolt

Bolt was founded in early 2014, with a vision to set a new standard for ecommerce.

Bolt Launch

A scrappy, yet-mighty team of 10 worked tirelessly for 2 years building the plumbing and middleware to create V1 of Bolt’s checkout platform.

In mid-2016, Bolt officially launched its first merchant with just the payment step.

Our Growth

Over the last 5 years, Bolt’s product and team has grown by leaps and bounds. We’ve raised nearly $1B in funding, expanded and updated our tech, acquired companies to boost our product offerings, expanded internationally into Europe and Asia, and grown by more than 1000 team members and 300+ retailers.