Categories

Bolt acquires Wyre for $1.5 billion in largest crypto merger to date
Apr 12, 2022
Maju Kuruvilla, Bolt CEO, joins ‘TechCheck’ to discuss the company’s decision to acquire Wyre, how he was able to complete the deal and more

42 Companies That Are Changing Workplaces for the Better
May 3, 2022
The workplace category of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards honors projects that improve our lives in the office, increase employees’ rights, or make work safer, smarter, or more meaningful. See the finalists and honorable mentions.

Bolt CEO Addresses Startup’s Performance in Wake of Lawsuit, Says Merchant Numbers Are Up 192% YoY
May 2, 2022
In his blog post, Kuruvilla revealed the following figures around the company’s performance, writing that Bolt: has a total of 13.8 million total “shopper accounts,” marking a 131% year-over-year increase, and has 836 total active merchant accounts across all product lines, representing a 192% YoY increase.

Every U.S. Company With a 4-Day Workweek—Full List
Apr 20, 2022
Here’s a list of all the companies in the U.S. which have already trialed a four-day week—and those who have made it a permanent option offered to their staff.

The checkout startup Bolt is putting the pressure on Shopify and Amazon with its $1.5 billion acquisition of the crypto startup Wyre as it races to beat the e-commerce giants to Web3
Apr 12, 2022
Bolt, a one-click checkout company, has acquired the crypto startup Wyre in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. The deal — the largest in the crypto space to date — represents an escalation of the frenzied competition in one-click checkout.

CEOs of Bolt and Wyre on the Largest Crypto Deal to Date
Apr 11, 2022
Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla and Wyre CEO Ioannis Giannaros discuss Bolt’s decision to purchase crypto firm Wyre for $1.5 billion in the largest non-SPAC deal of the industry. They also share plans to develop user-friendly crypto payment services. Plus, a conversation about their efforts in Latin America and Africa and which cryptocurrencies will be adopted for payments.

Crypto Startup Wyre Being Acquired by Payments Company Bolt for $1.5 Billion
Apr 7, 2022
Bolt Financial Inc., a payments-focused financial technology company, is acquiring crypto-services startup Wyre Payments Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

Bolt CEO: Commerce Identity, Checkout Operating System Makes One-Click Checkout Ubiquitous
Mar 17, 2022
Unified commerce-focused FinTech Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla told Karen Webster that a single “commerce identity” that customers can use wherever they’re shopping online may hold the key to unlocking anywhere, anytime payment. An experience that brings the checkout to the consumer and not the consumer to the checkout.

BigCommerce Offers Bolt Single-Click Checkout to Merchants
Mar 14, 2022
US-based e-commerce platform BigCommerce has partnered with checkout and customer network Bolt to offer single-click checkout capabilities to all its merchants. The partnership will enable BigCommerce’s small, medium and enterprise-sized merchants to integrate Bolt’s One-Click Checkout into their operations.

BigCommerce Adds One-Click Checkout with Bolt Partnership; Treasure Cash Helps Business Put Their Idle Cash to Work for Them
Mar 14, 2022
Open software-as-a-service (SaaS) eCommerce platform BigCommerce teamed up with checkout and shopper network Bolt on Monday (March 14) to give BigCommerce merchants the chance to integrate Bolt One-Click Checkout. Bolt can be prebuilt into merchants’ BigCommerce stores, which lets them offer one-click transactions. Merchants have access to the tens of millions of checkout-ready shoppers through Bolt, allowing them to shop with a single identity across a merchant’s site, removing log-in or password requirements and establishing an instant connection.

BigCommerce Embeds Bolt’s ‘One-Click Checkout’ Into E-commerce Platform
Mar 14, 2022
BigCommerce and Bolt said they are deepening their partnership by embedding Bolt’s “One-Click Checkout and Shopper Network” into BigCommerce’s e-commerce platform. The feature will be available to SMBs and enterprise retailers in the U.S.

BigCommerce and Bolt Deepen Partnership to Embed Bolt’s One-Click Checkout and Shopper Network, Making it Available to Small, Medium and Enterprise Merchants in the U.S.
Mar 14, 2022
Bolt can easily be pre-built into merchants’ BigCommerce stores allowing them to deliver secure, one-click transactions to create fast and seamless shopping experiences that move customers beyond the “buy” button, driving engagement and increasing conversion rates by up to 53 percent.

Check Out These 42 Pitch Decks Fintechs Disrupting Trading, Investing, and Banking Used to Raise Millions in Funding
Mar 11, 2022
Check out these pitch decks to see how fintech founders are selling their vision and nabbing big bucks in the process. You’ll see new financial tech geared at freelancers, fresh twists on digital banking, and innovation aimed at streamlining customer onboarding.

Tech’s 4-Day Workweek Revolution
Mar 11, 2022
One-click–checkout startup Bolt and software firm Wildbit are among an array of companies that are now offering four-day workweeks on a permanent basis. Some companies have found it has an immediate impact on retention.

Memo: BigCommerce and Bolt Unite
Mar 7, 2022
Days after we wrote about Bolt’s bold challenge to Shopify, the checkout company took a further step in taking on the eCommerce leader. Shopify rival BigCommerce and Bolt are partnering to bring Bolt’s one-click checkout to BigCommerce’s merchants.

This Startup Valued at $11B is Front and Center in BigCommerce’s Plan to Lure Merchants Away from Shopify
Mar 2, 2022
E-commerce platform BigCommerce and fintech startup Bolt are looking to expand their partnership aimed at speeding up the checkout process for BigCommerce’s tens of thousands of merchants.

Bolt: How an E-commerce Company Increased Brand Awareness and Reached 5M People in Just One Week.
Mar 2, 2022
Bolt wanted to generate awareness about and get people to interact with the Conscious Culture movement. With the help of digital marketing agency Media.Monks (@MeetTheMonks), the brand also wanted to promote their own working culture, including a newly announced four-day week.

Bolt’s Gutsy Strategy
Feb 28, 2022
Bolt is trying to out-rebel the armory of the rebels. The call to action is clear: “Switch to Bolt.” In another fiery thread by Bolt founder Ryan Breslow, he began: Shopify is eating their ecosystem.

Bringing One-click Checkouts to Merchants of All Sizes
Feb 22, 2022
Ian Leslie, Senior Director of Retail Advocacy at Bolt, joined Retail Refined for a live chat at NRF 2020. Bolt is a San Francisco-based one-click checkout solution powering checkout across e-commerce merchants across the internet.

Lessons from the four-day week: Inside the Beauty and Fashion Brand Trials
Feb 16, 2022
“It’s not about condensing our work week into four days — it’s about prioritizing, shifting unnecessary meetings, and focusing on impact,” says Bolt chief people officer Jennifer Christie. “But, it took time to break decades-long working habits, which is why we recommend a trial period.”

Do you suffer from ‘meeting bloat’?
Feb 13, 2022
Bolt, the e-commerce company, uses a guide called the Conscious Culture playbook. It sets aside one day a week for internal gatherings, such as team meetings and one-to-ones. Then it requests one to two days of external meetings, including meeting clients or interviewing recruits, with the remaining days reserved for uninterrupted work.

Sarah McLachlan Draws Attention to the Plight of Abandoned Shopping Carts
Feb 2, 2022
Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan has become known as much for her efforts to raise awareness of abandoned and abused animals for the ASPCA as for her music. Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort and parent company MNTN are using that notoriety to their advantage in a new ad for Bolt, a one-click checkout tech company.

A fintech startup saw a 30% spike in job applications after switching to a 4-day workweek. A top exec laid out its blueprint.
Feb 1, 2022
On a sunny morning in August, Ryan Breslow was meditating in the backyard of his Miami home when it hit him. He wanted to implement a permanent 4-day work week at the company he founded, fintech startup Bolt.

Don’t worry, this Sarah McLachlan ad for Bolt won’t make you cry
Jan 31, 2022
McLachlan is starring in another ad, this time for the fintech startup Bolt. But instead of rescuing animals, she’s rescuing all the stranded goods in abandoned online shopping carts. Created by Ryan Reynolds’s agency Maximum Effort, the ad says that up to 70% of online shopping carts are ditched before that crucial final step.

Bolt Names New CEO, Founder Steps Up to Executive Chairman Role
Jan 31, 2022
Not one to follow the way other companies do things, Bolt has announced it is shaking up its C-suite in a new way. Effective now, Ryan Breslow, the founder of Bolt, will be stepping into a new role as executive chairman of the board. Formerly chief executive officer, in his new position, he will focus on fueling the company’s future growth through fundraising, acquisitions, 10X partnerships and furthering Bolt’s Conscious Culture.

Four-day weeks and the freedom to move anywhere: Companies are rewriting the future of work (again)
Jan 22, 2022
Bolt, which already allows for permanent remote work, adopted a permanent four-day workweek at the beginning of the year to address two big goals: to increase employee productivity and reduce burnout.

Is Now the Moment for the Four-Day Workweek?
Jan 21, 2022
Earlier this month, Bolt, a startup in Silicon Valley, announced that employees can permanently work a four-day workweek. The company’s founder and CEO tells The Journal why, and WSJ’s Patrick Thomas explains how the four-day workweek went from an abstract idea to something employers across the country are now offering their staff.

Online Checkout Firm Bolt Valued at $11B after BlackRock-Led Funding — Source
Jan 14, 2022
Online checkout platform Bolt raised $355 million in a late-stage funding round led by fund manager BlackRock Inc at a valuation of $11 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

E-commerce Startup Bolt Nearly Doubles Valuation to $11B
Jan 14, 2022
Online checkout company, Bolt, has just raised $335 million in a series E funding round – bringing the firm’s total valuation to $11 billion.

Fresh Round of $355M Lifts Online Checkout Company Bolt into Decacorn Territory
Jan 14, 2022
Checkout technology company Bolt continues to make quick work of attracting new capital. The company announced Friday $355 million in Series E financing to give Bolt an $11 billion valuation, according to sources close to the company.

Tech Company Moves to Four-Day Workweek Permanently
Jan 7, 2022
Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow joins CNN to discuss the company’s decision to make its 4-day workweek pilot permanent.

After Overwhelming success with a 4-Day Workweek Pilot, Tech Company Bolt Makes it Permanent
Jan 5, 2022
A four-day workweek is now a permanent perk for employees of tech unicorn Bolt.
The San Francisco-based e-commerce developer piloted the program last fall, and the results were overwhelmingly positive, said founder and CEO Ryan Breslow.
“I couldn’t imagine running a company any other way,” he said.

Tech Company Bolt is Permanently Embracing a 4-Day Workweek
Jan 4, 2022
Fintech startup Bolt is making a four-day workweek a permanent policy effectively immediately, says founder and CEO Ryan Breslow, making it the first tech unicorn—and one of just a handful of U.S. companies—to embrace a shortened work schedule.

Democratizing One-Click Checkout — with Ryan Breslow
Dec 20, 2021
Ryan Breslow, the founder and CEO of Bolt — a technology company that has raised more than $600 million and 18x’d its valuation in 18 months, joins Scott to discuss scaling the company, fundraising, and his approach to company culture. Follow Ryan on Twitter, @theryanking.

Bolt Founder Ryan Breslow on the Four-Day Work Week: “I don’t know how every company on the planet isn’t doing this.”
Dec 6, 2021
Ryan isn’t asking his employees to work less, mind you. This is a growth startup—the kind of high-pressure place where there is always more work than people. Ryan wants people to work differently. His theory is that the best way to get this work done isn’t constantly. It’s efficiently.

Bolt Makes First Acquisition with Tipser, Launches ‘Remote Checkout’
Nov 29, 2021
The ability to purchase something at the point of discovery from digital content exists, but checkout technology company Bolthas the opportunity to give that its “one-click” treatment. It announced Monday that it made its first acquisition in Tipser, a Swedish-based technology company enabling direct checkout on any digital surface.

Adobe Taps Startup Bolt to Add One-Click Checkouts to Commerce Sites
Nov 22, 2021
Under the deal, Adobe’s customers can integrate Bolt’s one-click feature into their checkout screens. Bolt has a network of about 10 million shoppers, and if it has seen a shopper before, it can fill in their payment details, an otherwise burdensome step when many shoppers abandon their cart.

Adobe Enables Faster Payments with Mastercard and Bolt Partnerships
Nov 22, 2021
Adobe is also working with one-click checkout provider Bolt to facilitate customer payments for partner retailers. After adding their personal details and payment information into their accounts, Bolt customers can check out anywhere they see Bolt’s logo without having to input their details again.

Benefit Cosmetics is Upping its Global DTC Checkout Experience
Nov 8, 2021
LVMH’s Benefit Cosmetics is revamping its checkout experience with a new partner. Benefit Cosmetics announced on that it has partnered with checkout and shopper network company Bolt for its U.S., U.K., France and Germany e-commerce sites. This marks U.S.-based Bolt’s foray into Europe as third-party checkout competition heats up.

Introducing the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America
Aug 21, 2021
Business is booming in the U.S. Bolt debuted on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S with a #64 rank.

059 New Marketing: Improve all your marketing with a One Click Checkout
Aug 13, 2021
Up until recently, Ian’s been the Chief Marketing Officer at US furniture retailer Industry West (and been a regular guest discussing the cool new marketing and platform developments he’s been doing there, on our sister podcast eCommerce MasterPlan). He’s working at Bolt as the Senior Director of Retail Advocacy, helping Bolt to make their products evermore awesome, and retailers to get the best out of Bolt.

EY Announces Winners for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Northern California Award
Aug 13, 2021
“Ryan’s spirit is infectious. His perspectives represent a new generation of entrepreneurs focused deeply on company culture, impact, and how the future consumer operates,” said the EY judging panel. EY US is pleased to announce the winners of the Entrepreneur Of The Year® Northern California Award. Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies.

Mission Driven: Bolt
Aug 6, 2021
Meet Ryan Breslow, Founder and CEO of Bolt, a company changing the world of e-commerce by fixing a spot with the most headaches: checkout. Learn about the work he’s done with The Movement, a cause offering free classes, uniting the world with dance.

Five medium-size companies earn Best Workplaces for Innovators recognition
Aug 6, 2021
This year for the first time, Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators is recognizing outstanding organizations in six different categories, including these five companies with between 100 and 999 employees.

As Bolt Network Grows, Merchants and Consumers See Tangible Benefits
Jul 12, 2021
The “one-click” checkout solution offers ease of use for shoppers, and higher conversion rates for retailers and brands. The company said due to the growth of the platform, it expects one-third of all U.S. consumers to be using Bolt by the end of 2022, “and by the end of 2024, that will grow to two-thirds. By 2025, Bolt is projected to interact with eight out of every 10 shoppers in the United States.”

The future of digital retail is here
Jul 12, 2021
SaaS companies are transitioning to secure access service edge (or SASE), and they’re partnering with digital retailers to outsource their personalization and security needs to a single place. Other companies are coming up with their own versions of SASE. For instance, one-click checkout provider Bolt partners with independent retailers to provide a personalized and secure single sign-on (SSO) checkout process by linking users’ Bolt accounts with their store accounts.

The Future of Shopping: Identity-Powered Commerce
Jun 30, 2021
Can identity-powered commerce help retailers survive the “cookie apocalypse”? Maju Kuruvilla, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Bolt, joins the team at DojoLIVE! to share more.

Exclusive Q&A: Regional retailer cuts online fraud to under 1%
Jun 24, 2021
Specialty apparel chain TYLER’S is addressing online fraud at digital checkout, with impressive results. When the retailer moved to BigCommerce, the digital payments solution, Bolt, stood out because it addresses both fraud and checkout, and that meant TYLER’S could fix the problem it was having with fraud and give its customers a better checkout experience at the same time.

How 14 SF Tech Leaders Are Setting Up For Post-Pandemic Scale
Jun 24, 2021
Apandemic-proof product may have helped many companies grow throughout 2020, but the following 14 Bay Area firms shared an additional trait in common: the prioritization of employee needs.

Forbes Fintech 50: The Most Innovative Fintech Companies in 2021
Jun 10, 2021
Many of the startups on Forbes’ sixth Fintech 50 list were big pandemic winners, as Americans sped up their migration to buying and banking online and some of those stuck at home jumped into online trading of stocks and crypto. To qualify for the Fintech 50, startups must have either headquarters or substantial operations in the U.S. and be private as of the date of publication.

Meet the Northern California finalists
Jun 10, 2021
Congratulations to the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Northern California finalists. We look forward to celebrating the achievements of these unstoppable entrepreneurs during the virtual awards celebration.

Bolt Helps Retailers Crack The Loyalty And Checkout Code
May 28, 2021
Brands now have tools to solve this issue with a solution that e-commerce technology company Bolt just launched called Bolt SSO Commerce. The SSO in the name is short for “single sign-on” and the one-click checkout solution turns anonymous guest shoppers into logged-in brand account holders— enabling brands to gather the data insights they need to customize the shopping experience.

‘I don’t need headphones to focus’: A day in the life of Tina Fan, chief customer officer at Bolt
May 12, 2021
No company can be successful without a proper customer success team at its core. Among the ups and downs of ecommerce revenue is Bolt, an up-and-coming fintech that provides one-click checkout solutions for ecommerce sites. And right in the middle of Bolt is Tina Fan, chief customer officer at the company. Fan leads the customer and revenue teams at Bolt with a focus on customer experience. She is a technology executive and customer enthusiast with expertise in selling and leading customer solutions, creating and mentoring high-performing teams, and growing a business.

Bolt Financial Launches Single Store Account Creation and Payment for E-Commerce Merchants
May 12, 2021
Bolt is betting its single sign-on checkout application, Bolt SSO Commerce, will make it easier for e-commerce stores to steer shoppers away from using guest checkout. Instead, they can open an account while at the same time saving their payment credentials in one click at checkout.

Why Badgley Mischka Turned to Single Sign-On Checkout
May 12, 2021
Apparel brands have struggled to optimize the e-commerce checkout experience and use it to generate a more loyal following, but one technology provider is hoping its latest solution helps brands eliminate both of these concerns.Checkout experience platform Bolt has launched Bolt SSO Commerce, a single sign-on checkout experience that is designed to turn anonymous guest shoppers into logged-in account holders.

Bolt Launches Bolt SSO Commerce™: Redefining the Login Layer for Commerce to End Guest Checkout
May 11, 2021
Bolt, the leading checkout experience platform, today announced the launch of Bolt SSO Commerce™, the first single sign-on checkout experience that helps retailers engage directly with their customers by turning anonymous, guest shoppers into logged-in account holders whose insights and feedback brands can use to offer more personalized shopping experiences. Badgley Mischka is one of the leading global brands that will use Bolt SSO Commerce to drive an increase in store account creation and convert one-time guest shoppers into long-term, loyal customers.

This fintech startup thinks it can help companies build conscious business cultures
May 5, 2021
Intel introduced the corporate world to the concept of Objectives and Key Results, or OKRs, for measuring goals. Netflix ushered in unlimited vacation policies. Will Bolt, a seven-year-old fintech company, coax companies into adopting biweekly performance feedback and cultures that value writing over talking? San Francisco-based Bolt, which offers online retailers a one-click checkout experience, today is launching Conscious.org, a public website where startups and corporations can find Bolt’s internal company handbook as well as updates on the company’s culture and guest posts from leaders. The goal, says founder and CEO Ryan Breslow, is to help other businesses seeking to mirror Bolt’s culture, which marries so-called mindfulness principles with standards for performance and execution. “The reason we’re open sourcing this is because it is really hard to figure this stuff out,” says Breslow. “You can just find what you like, share it with your leadership team, and implement it.”

How An Innovative Tech Startup, Bolt, Is Helping Online Retailers Win In Ecommerce
Apr 15, 2021
Bolt, an innovative fintech start-up, has created a unified ecosystem with its checkout experience platform. Bolt’s solution aims to simplify the online buying experience and eliminate some of the roadblocks that retailers face in growing and retaining their online customer base. To discuss how Bolt is going about this, I talked to Maju Kuruvilla, CTO of Bolt.

Bolt’s Bold Plan To Transform E-Commerce With Network Effects Is Working
Jan 25, 2021
Bottom Line: By helping independent online retailers standardize on their One Click Checkout process, Bolt creates a network effect across online retailers, leading to 250,000 new online customers joining every month. Given a choice, many online retailers want to stay independent of online marketplaces, including Amazon and retain their customer relationships.

BORN Group Announces Bolt Integration within SFCC Accelerator
Jan 25, 2021
BORN Group (www.borngroup.com), an award-winning global agency that combines creative design, content production, and eCommerce services, is excited to announce the integration of leading payment solution, Bolt to their Salesforce Commerce Cloud Accelerator, Arctic Fox. ‘We are thrilled to announce the new integration of Bolt to our Arctic Fox accelerator and we look forward to bringing their best-of-breed payment solution to future customers globally,’ adds Minna Rhee, Managing Director.

Payments Startup Bolt Hires Amazon Exec Maju Kuruvilla as CTO
Jan 19, 2021
E-commerce checkout startup Bolt has hired former Amazon exec Maju Kuruvilla as its first CTO. Kuruvilla most recently served as VP and GM of Global Mile, Amazon’s international shipping and logistics organization, where he helped lead its global fulfillment and logistics teams. Kuruvilla will lead the product and engineering teams for the rapidly growing startup, which is expected to double in size in 2021.

Brain Drain To Brain Gain? Bolt Founder And Hometown Boy Ryan Breslow Is Checking Out Miaimi
Jan 6, 2021
Ryan Breslow is the founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Bolt, a fintech startup that recently ranking No. 22 in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, and he’s one of them. He’s here for at least an extended stay and perhaps longer. Breslow attended public elementary and middle schools in South Florida and was a Michael M. Krop Senior High super-grad, where he was a 2012 Miami Herald Silver Knight and a winner in the Herald’s Business Plan Challenge contest, among many other honors. He also started several businesses while still in high school, including one helping businesses set up e-commerce sites, while also working at Publix.

Bolt Raises $75M to Advance Its Online Checkout Platform, Expand Its Team
Dec 22, 2020
On Monday, the company announced that it brought in $75 million in additional funds for its Series C-1. Back in July, the company got things started with $50 million. The latest round, co-led by General Atlantic and Westcap, brings the company’s total Series C earnings to $125 million.

Bolt Raises $75M Series C1 To Advance One-Click Online Buying
Dec 22, 2020
Bolt, which is developing a one-click checkout experience platform, brought in $75 million in additional funds for its Series C to give it a total round of $125 million. San Francisco-based Bolt, founded in 2014, gives retailers and consumers more choice, control and flexibility over their transactions by managing the back-end of the checkout—presenting payment options, securely processing payments, and mitigating fraud—while providing a seamless front-end experience.

Bolt’s $75M In Funding Will Help Online Retailers Improve E-Commerce Sales One Click At A Time
Dec 22, 2020
Bottom Line: Bolt helps online retailers deliver a familiar and seamless one-click checkout so they can better compete with Amazon as online shopping reaches unprecedented rates. The company announced $75 million in new funding co-led by General Atlantic and WestCap, with support from existing investors at Activant Capital and Tribe Capital. Bolt also recently welcomed Bob Buch as Chief Business Officer to lead key aspects of the organization.

Bolt Nets $75 Million In Funding Round For eCommerce Innovation
Dec 22, 2020
Checkout platform Bolt has closed a funding round with $75 million, capping a year where it processed $1 billion in transactions, according to a report by Venture Beat. Bolt also saw a tenfold increase in the size of its shopper network, along with 250,000 added shoppers to its network per month. The round saw the company’s valuation hit over $215 million. The round was led by General Atlantic and WestCap, and existing investors Activant Capital and Tribe Capital also participated.

Bolt adds $75M to its Series C, as the battle to rule online checkout continues
Dec 22, 2020
Bolt, a startup that offers online checkout technology to retailers, announced this morning that it has added $75 million to its Series C round, bringing the financing to a total of $125 million. WestCap and General Atlantic led the new tranche, which Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow told TechCrunch was raised at around twice its Series C valuation. PitchBook pegs the company’s Series C at a post-money valuation of $500 million, implying that the Series C1 values Bolt at around $1 billion. The company is calling the latest check its “Series C1.” Why not just call it a Series D? According to Breslow, Bolt’s future Series D will be much larger.

As 2020 ends, new unicorn formation continues to impress
Dec 22, 2020
This morning after contrasting a PitchBook-derived $500 million, post-money valuation for Bolt’s Series C that its CEO had said was roughly doubled in its Series C1, TechCrunch discovered that the online checkout software company likely landed a new valuation right around the unicorn mark. Bolt’s PR team declined to share a new valuation or grade our math, saying that its framing was “fine.”… Bolt’s round fits neatly into a number of trends that we’ve been watching: inside rounds being bullish not bearish in 2020, the fastest-growing companies raising two rounds this year and the incredible focus by venture investors into startups that were not merely surviving COVID-19, but benefiting from how it shook up the market. Image Credits: Nigel Sussman

Bolt raises $75 million to fight ecommerce fraud with machine learning
Dec 22, 2020
The checkout platform Bolt — not to be confused with the blockchain startup Bolt Labs, the hardware investor Bolt, or the ride-sharing firm formerly known as Taxify — today announced that it recently closed a $75 million funding round. The infusion comes after a year during which Bolt processed over $1 billion in retail transactions, saw a 10 times uptick in the size of its shopper network, and added more than 250,000 shoppers to its network every month.

Bolt Raises $75M, Reinforcing its Position as the Best and Fastest Way to Checkout Online
Dec 22, 2020
Bolt, the fastest, easiest, and most secure checkout platform, is announcing $75M in new funding, for a total of $215M raised to-date. This latest round is co-led by General Atlantic and WestCap, two leading growth equity firms, with participation from existing investors Activant Capital and Tribe Capital. Angel investors in Bolt include founders and retail executives at Allbirds, Athleta, Crocs, Jet.com, and REVOLVE, as well as technology executives from Venmo, PayPal, and Magento.

Improving Security At Checkout Is Key To Growing ECommerce Sales
Dec 10, 2020
37% of online shoppers trust Amazon, E-Bay and Etsy to protect them from online fraud versus 5% trusting independent online retailers. False declines to online transactions lead 63% of customers to find a new retailer to shop and buy online. 35% of online customers who experience a false decline abandon their shopping carts and never complete the purchase. These and many other fascinating insights are from Bolt’s 2020 Winter Ecommerce Fraud Report, A Retailer’s Guide to Consumer Sentiments, published earlier this week. The report’s findings are based on a survey of 848 randomly selected U.S. adults to measure how perceptions of fraud impact online shopping behavior. Respondents were asked questions regarding payment methods, checkout, brand perception, personal data and other related topics. For additional details on the methodology, please see page 10 of the study.

Retail Tech 100: The Tech Innovators Transforming Retail
Dec 4, 2020
The Retail Tech 100 is CB Insights’ annual ranking of the 100 most promising B2B retail tech companies in the world. This year’s winning companies include startups working on e-commerce infrastructure, supply chain automation, cashierless checkout, and more. E-commerce infrastructure is the leading category in the 2020 cohort, with 12 winners. These companies provide retailers with the necessary tools to build and add features to their e-commerce channels, such as by facilitating mobile and social commerce. Online checkout features such as Bolt increase online sales conversions by enabling faster checkout via single-click solutions.

Bolt Raises $50M Series C and Creates First Checkout Experience Platform
Dec 1, 2020
Bolt, the world’s first checkout experience platform, today announces a $50 million Series C round, led by Laurence Tosi at WestCap, who notably scaled Airbnb’s payments platform to span 181 countries and served as CFO at Blackstone for seven years. He joins existing investors Activant Capital; Tribe Capital; Glynn Capital; and Human Capital, alongside new investments from a collection of current and former executives and board members* from Magento, Venmo, PayPal, Lyft, Tommy Hilfiger, Tesla, and Lululemon. This new raise brings the company’s total funding to just shy of $140 million, and with it, Bolt unveils the world’s first checkout experience platform to give retailers and consumers more choice, control, and flexibility over their transactions.

Bolt’s Checkout Experience Platform Named BigCommerce Elite Partner
Dec 1, 2020
Bolt, the world’s first Checkout Experience Platform, today announced it has been named a BigCommerce Elite Technology Partner, providing more than 60,000 BigCommerce customers access to one holistic platform to easily manage and improve checkout, payments, and fraud protection. BigCommerce customers can integrate Bolt’s technology through the BigCommerce App Marketplace. Since 2018, Bolt has provided its checkout solution to over 80 enterprise BigCommerce customer stores, helping these businesses increase lifetime value through single-click return checkout, faster guest checkout, better approval rates, reduced fraud, and improved overall customer satisfaction scores.

2020 Technology Fast 500 winners — Bolt Ranked #22 Overall
Nov 19, 2020
For the past 26 years, Deloitte has been honoring the most innovative public and private technology companies that hail from cities across North America. The ranking is compiled based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on percentage fiscal-year growth over a three-year period. Bolt was ranked #22 overall, #3 in the Bay Area and #1 in Fintech!

Bolt Nominated to “The Wishlist” by VC Guide
Oct 29, 2020
These are the Deal Breakers, the companies we’d “quit our jobs for” and “leave our 4-year vesting schedules early for”. This is a resource intended to showcase the best startups (nominated by the best founders) to the most ambitious builders as they consider joining the startup world. To make this list, these startups must be: 1) 🚀 High-growth and/or high-momentum 2) ❤️ Highly praised, nominated & voted on by founders 3)🔬 Researched thoroughly by our team

Bolt Wins Innovative Integration Award from BigCommerce
Oct 22, 2020
“BigCommerce’s partner-first philosophy is not only what differentiates our platform from other industry leaders, it also makes our annual Partner Awards especially meaningful — both for the company and our global ecosystem of world-class partners,” said Russell Klein, chief commercial officer at BigCommerce. “On behalf of BigCommerce employees around the world, I’m proud to congratulate this year’s Partner Awards winners, and we thank them for their ongoing commitment to accelerating our merchants’ growth.”

CSA Exclusive: Tyler’s cuts fraud, wait time via single-click checkout
Oct 21, 2020
Seeking an online and mobile checkout solution that would save time for staff and provide customers with a safe, secure, and pleasant experience, TYLER’S wound up selecting and implementing the Bolt checkout experience platform… “Bolt really stuck out to us because it addresses checkout and fraud together, meaning we could address our fraud issue while also improving the experience shoppers have at checkout,” said Dermit. “One of the key features for us was how easy Bolt made it for customers to place orders by offering a smooth, fast, mobile-optimized experience that includes a single-click checkout for returning shoppers.”

New Partnership Makes One-Click Checkout a Reality for BigCommerce’s 60,000 Merchants
Oct 9, 2020
A newly expanded partnership between BigCommerce and checkout platform Bolt is aiming to make easy purchasing processes more accessible. BigCommerce customers will now be able to leverage Bolt’s fraud and checkout products in a fully integrated workflow, accelerating time to market and letting smaller retailers compete on the e-commerce stage. Prior to this announcement, Bolt had been the preferred checkout partner of over 80 of BigCommerce’s enterprise customer stores; now as one of its Elite Technology Partners, Bolt will be made available to the full 60,000 merchants who currently utilize BigCommerce.

Bolt’s Checkout Experience Platform Named BigCommerce Elite Partner
Oct 7, 2020
Bolt, the world’s first Checkout Experience Platform, today announced it has been named a BigCommerce Elite Technology Partner, providing more than 60,000 BigCommerce customers access to one holistic platform to easily manage and improve checkout, payments, and fraud protection. BigCommerce customers can integrate Bolt’s technology through the BigCommerce App Marketplace. Since 2018, Bolt has provided its checkout solution to over 80 enterprise BigCommerce customer stores, helping these businesses increase lifetime value through single-click return checkout, faster guest checkout, better approval rates, reduced fraud, and improved overall customer satisfaction scores.

Bolt and Adobe Join Forces to Power Independent Commerce
Oct 1, 2020
Bolt, the world’s first Checkout Experience Platform, today announced that it has joined the Adobe Exchange program as a Premier partner. The Adobe Exchange Premier-level partnership recognizes best-in-class technology solutions that help drive innovation, and Bolt joins as one of 24 Premier technology partners. Bolt will provide Magento Commerce merchants with a hyper-optimized, dynamic checkout experience that scales as they grow, creating a durable and future-proof experience for shoppers during their buying experience.

Startup Bolt Looks to Help Retailers Transition To ECommerce
Sep 11, 2020
ECommerce tech startup Bolt raises $50 million in fresh funding. Ryan Breslow, CEO of Bolt, joins Cheddar to talk about the company’s checkout experience platform.

Armed With $50 Million In Fresh Funding, Bolt Helps Retailers Shift To ECommerce
Sep 11, 2020
With eCommerce taking off amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolt the checkout technology platform company is raising $50 million in a new round of venture funding. The Series C financing was led by Laurence Tosi at WestCap and included participation from existing investors Activant Capital, Tribe Capital, Glynn Capital, and Human Capital.

Bolt Secures $50M in Series C Funding To Unveil Checkout Experience Platform
Sep 11, 2020
San Francisco-based Bolt unveiled what Breslow says is the world’s first checkout experience platform, powered by a $50 million Series C round of funding led by WestCap’s Laurence Tosi. Bolt, founded in 2014, gives retailers and consumers more choice, control and flexibility over their transactions by managing the back end of the checkout—presenting payment options, securely processing payments, and mitigating fraud—while providing a seamless front end experience.

Bolt Raises $50M to Expand E-Commerce Checkout Platform
Sep 11, 2020
San Francisco-based fintech startup Bolt announced it raised $50 million in a Series C funding round on Thursday. Bolt manages the back-end of the checkout process for online retailers in order to provide a more seamless front-end experience for online shoppers. According to the company, over 70 percent of online shoppers abandon their orders prior to checking out. Bolt’s mission is to help solve that problem.

Bolt Launches Index Highlighting the Way Retailers Are Giving Back
Sep 11, 2020
As a way to raise consumer awareness for online retailers that are doing their part to give back during the coronavirus pandemic, Bolt has launched Retailers Give Back. Retailers Give Back is a comprehensive index on the web highlighting the ways retailers are contributing to the fight against COVID-19.

The Fintech 250: The Top Fintech Companies Of 2020
Sep 11, 2020
CB Insights has unveiled the third annual Fintech 250 — a list of 250 of the top private fintech companies using technology to transform financial services. Bolt was selected by CB Insights’ Intelligence Unit from a pool of 16,000 companies, including applicants and nominees.

Bolt is a Certified Great Place to Work (2020)
Sep 11, 2020
Over 93% of employees at Bolt say it is a great place to work. Learn more about the company culture and benefits of working at Bolt from our profile on Great Place to Work.

Bolt and Adobe Join Forces to Power Independent Commerce
Sep 11, 2020
Bolt, the world’s first Checkout Experience Platform, today announced that it has joined the Adobe Exchange program as a Premier partner. The Adobe Exchange Premier-level partnership recognizes best-in-class technology solutions that help drive innovation, and Bolt joins as one of 24 Premier technology partners.

COVID-19 Shut Down Stores: Here’s How Bolt is Helping Retailers Fight Back
Sep 11, 2020
Bolt, the checkout platform giving Amazon a run for its money, today launches Retailers Give Back- its latest initiative to support retailers negatively impacted by COVID-19. Backed by Bolt’s Retail Coalition, Retailers Give Back highlights the many ways in which retailers are serving their communities by donating their time, money, products, and services to fight the crisis.

COVID-19 Shut Down Stores: Here’s How Bolt is Helping Retailers Fight Back
May 4, 2020
Bolt launches Retailers Give Back – its latest initiative to support retailers negatively impacted by COVID-19. Backed by Bolt’s Retail Coalition, Retailers Give Back highlights the many ways in which retailers are serving their communities by donating their time, money, products, and services to fight the crisis.

Bolt Launches Index Highlighting the Way Retailers Are Giving Back
May 4, 2020
Bolt has launched Retailers Give Back as a way to raise consumer awareness for online retailers that are doing their part to give back during the coronavirus pandemic.

Best Workplaces in the Bay Area for 2020: Bolt
Mar 6, 2020
We’re excited to share that Fortune included Bolt on their list of Best Workplaces in the Bay Area for 2020. One of our top priorities at Bolt is cultivating a culture of openness and excellence, which is why we’re excited to see our hard work recognized on this year’s list.

Bolt is one of Fortune’s 50 Best Small Workplaces
Jan 25, 2020
Today, Bolt was announced as one of Fortune’s 50 Best Small Workplaces for 2020. About us: Bolt is creating a better-than-Amazon checkout experience for any ecommerce business. Uniting checkout, payments, and fraud detection under one hood allows us to maximize performance on each individual piece.

Bolt: An end-to-end payments stack with zero fraud
Oct 1, 2019
Bolt gives you full control over false positives: First, we put transactions through several layers to ensure the highest rates of order approvals. If our algorithm is about to reject, it goes through a human review process to ensure we’re approving as much as possible. – If we reject, you have a force approve time window to approve transactions if you disagree with our decision. You have final decision-making.

Forbes 30 Under 30: Bolt
Oct 1, 2019
Bolt cofounders Ryan Breslow and Eric Feldman designed a software that gives small and large businesses a seamless, “Amazon-like” checkout system, with built-in fraud detection. The Stanford dropouts believe that the less fields an online shopper has to fill during checkout, the less likely they will abandon their cart.

The race to become the next PayPal or Square heats up
Oct 1, 2019
For several years, PayPal, Square, Adyen and Stripe have dominated the lucrative payments market. Now hundreds of upstarts with names like Bolt, Toast and Due are muscling into the market with their own twist on facilitating commerce between merchants and shoppers.

Bolt launches an Amazon-like checkout for the rest of retail
Sep 13, 2019
A startup called Bolt wants to give e-commerce retailers a better shot at competing with Amazon. Operating in stealth for a year, the payments platform has grown to 100 online merchants who are now in various phases of roll out with its end-to-end solution for managing customer checkout, payment processing, and fraud detection.

The Forbes Fintech 50: Bolt
Sep 13, 2019
Its mobile-ready checkout software for ecommerce sites incorporates sales analysis and fraud prevention, topped by a guarantee to cover any fraud losses. Bolt claims the integrated functions can cut checkout times from more than one minute to 30 seconds.

This CEO dropped out of Stanford to help companies take on Amazon
Sep 13, 2019
This CEO dropped out of Stanford, but secretly started his company in his old dorm. Now, he’s raised $90 million to help companies challenge Amazon with better payments technology.

Checkout Startup Bolt Raises $68 Million to Help Smaller Retailers Take On Amazon
Sep 13, 2019
Bolt, an online checkout startup that publicly debuted in January of 2018, announced today that it has successfully raised $68 million in new funding, at an undisclosed valuation. The new round is co-led by Activant Capital (Boxed, Forter) and Tribe Capital, and includes personal investments from current and former leaders at retailers including Allbirds, Bombas, and Jet.com. The investments bring Bolt’s total funding to $90 million.

Bolt raises $68M for the “perfect” online checkout
Sep 13, 2019
San Francisco-based Bolt is hoping to fill [the] gap between browsing and buying. After launching in January 2018, the company recently raised a $68 million in a Series B to “perfect the online check out process.” Its total funding is at $90 million. The latest round was led by Activant Capital and Tribe Capital. Executives from Allbirds, REVOLVE, Jet.com, and Bombas also participated in the round.

Bolt is one of Inc.’s “Best Workplaces”
Sep 13, 2019
Today, Inc. Magazine included Bolt on their selective list of Best Workplaces for 2019. One of our top priorities at Bolt is cultivating a workplace that eliminates politics and fear. Every voice is heard, and decisions are made based on reason and data. We work hard every day to maintain a culture of openness and excellence, which is why we’re excited to see it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Bolt raises $68 million to simplify ecommerce
Sep 13, 2019
Bolt — not to be confused with blockchain startup Bolt Labs, hardware investor Bolt, or the ride-sharing firm formerly known as Taxify — aims to accomplish no less than reinventing the ecommerce payments stack top to bottom. The San Francisco-based company, which was founded in 2014 by Eric Feldman and Ryan Breslow, provides a suite of tools designed to streamline transactions across web platforms. And to gear up for its next stage of growth, it’s raising substantial venture capital.