Markus Villig

Trivia of the day – more than 1% of all card payments in Europe are now done with Bolt.

@BosonJoe Just one.

@villigm There are so many companies named Bolt

2025 was a record year for Bolt. ⚡️ - $14B GMV run-rate - $3B revenue run-rate - 2 years cashflow positive Every year, millions of people realise that shared mobility can be far more convenient and affordable than owning a car. However, the future is autonomous driving. Bolt’s ambition is to be the European leader in robotaxis and we have much to share in the coming months. 🇪🇺 We are still only 1% done.

We've attracted some incredible tech talent in 2025 and the team is now shipping dozens of improvements each month. But it is always great to get your raw, honest feedback about Bolt. What's working well? What's frustrating?

Agree with @Noahpinion here. Without stronger defence, industrial revival, and real unity, Europe will be carved up by stronger powers. noahpinion.blog/p/europe-is-un…

100,000 autonomous vehicles by 2035. Excited to announce Bolt's partnership with Stellantis to bring L4 mobility to Europe at scale. 🇪🇺 The EU has uniquely high regulatory requirements for robotaxis, so it is great to partner with another local leader with deep industry context.

Jack has not only built an inspiring business Bolt uses daily, but remains a kind and down to earth leader a decade in.

It was fun to join Sequoia’s Crucible Moments podcast to break down some of the decisions that shaped Bolt over the last decade. Most of those lessons still guide how we operate today. Link in the thread. 🔗

@PonyAI_tech Read more here. sifted.eu/articles/bolt-…

Excited to announce Bolt’s first partnership to bring robotaxis to Europe with @PonyAI_tech. 🇪🇺 Pony is one of the world’s leading autonomous driving companies, serving thousands of trips daily without human safety drivers. The biggest constraint for AV rollout isn’t just regulation — it’s unit economics. Europe is uniquely attractive as it’s one of the few regions with many cities where ride-hailing prices exceed €2/km. Bolt is the leading European mobility platform and the most effective way for AV companies to access the EU market. They focus on autonomy. Bolt provides the full stack: demand, regulatory access, servicing, mapping, fleet financing and on-the-ground operations across 500+ cities. Can’t wait for our customers to try these out.

One of the most inspiring entrepreneurs I know @villigm. Bolt is the leading ride-sharing and mobility company in EMEA (and beyond...) with billions in revenue and many millions of trips every day. Markus was 19 when he started Bolt in Estonia. His story:

Follow for more obvious yet overlooked insights on Europe and tech.

Europe now has 0 companies left in the global top 25. What needs to happen for that to change by 2030?

Answering questions from journalists, I noted: Patriot, SAMP/T and similar systems are not weapons against kamikaze drones. These are expensive missiles designed first and foremost for ballistic targets. A single Patriot interceptor costs $2-3 million, while a “shahed” or “Geran” drone costs up to $100,000. When Russia launches 500-800 drones a day, using such missiles against them is simply not a solution. Only a comprehensive, cost-effective approach can bring results. Ukraine has unique experience in building a multi-system defense: air defense, mobile fire groups, interceptor drones, aviation, helicopters, and several layers of electronic warfare. This is the only way to stop massive attacks. And today, apart from Ukraine and Russia, no one has such a system. We are ready to share this experience with our Polish and other European partners. This must be a joint effort, so that every nation can protect its people.

Small announcement — I joined Klarna’s board earlier this year. It was a privilege to be part of the IPO in New York. 🩷 Congratulations to @klarnaseb and the entire team for two decades of relentless work to get here. Serving on the board has been a chance to witness the resilience it takes to innovate in this industry — facing not only fierce competition, but also intense regulatory complexity. I’m excited to see Klarna evolve to a leading global digital bank over the next decade. This IPO also shows that Europe can build tech companies that win globally.

The Baltic states are our closest allies. No one loves America more. They spend more on defense than we do. Cutting their security assistance is wrong and is leading us down a terrible path that will be a black chapter in history. The President is being ill-served by DoD leaders.

So many people, diametrically opposed to everything devout Catholics like Tolkien stood for, nonetheless proclaim that modern defense tech chuds are illiterates who don't understand his works. "Almost the central theme of the book is the contrast between the Hobbits (or "the Shire") and the appalling destiny to which some of them are called, the terrifying discovery that the humdrum happiness of the Shire, which they had taken for granted as something normal, is in reality a sort of local and temporary accident, that its existence depends on being protected by powers which Hobbits forget, against powers which Hobbits dare not imagine" -CS Lewis, close friend of JRR Tolkien

Helsinki if Nokia had developed a new mobile OS in 2003 and not hired a Minnesota mining company CFO who wanted to keep display cost below $2.75.

I turned 1,000,000,000 seconds old today. Funny how arbitrary years seem next to time’s truly elegant milestones.

okay so maybe we are living in a simulation

China now emits 4 times as much CO₂ as the entire EU. What should Europe's strategy be?