Why Taxify changed name to Bolt

POPULAR on-demand transportation platform, Taxify, has changed its name to Bolt. The new name is a better representation of the vision of the company which is to build the future of urban transport.

Uche Okafor, Regional Manager for West Africa at Bolt, said this at a meet and greet event with the media in Lagos on Monday.

The broader vision of the company has expanded from ride-hailing, to include cars and motorbikes, to scooter sharing.

Speaking on why the company chose to make the change, Markus Villig, CEO and co-founder, Bolt, said, “Taxify launched five years ago with a mission to make urban transportation more convenient and affordable. Our first product was a taxi dispatch solution that gave the company its original name.”

Okafor further explained that “While we have made progress on our mission, we’ve also started to outgrow parts of our brand, including the name. Given our ambition to solve the transportation problem on an increasingly broader scale, we want the brand to reflect the company’s future rather than the past.

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“Our new name, Bolt, stands for fast, effortless movement; exactly what the experience of getting around in a city should be, be it by car, scooter or public transport. It also underscores our belief that the future of transportation will be electric.”

The Estonian-born tech company has evolved since inception in 2013 to now serve 25 million customers in 30 countries globally.

Marilin Noorem, PR Manager for Bolt, said that doing business in Nigeria has been a great experience so far, adding that the company was in Nigeria for the long haul.

Terver Bendega, Bolt Regional Marketing Manager, Africa told journalists that Bolt, then known as Taxify, launched in 2017 and currently operates in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Owerri and Benin.

On security, Okafor said Bolt was collaborating with the Nigerian Police to do background checks on drivers to verify their identities before joining the company. Also, an SOS button has been provided for drivers’ security.

He advised the public to make use of feedback channels should they have complaints while using their services, explaining that the team at Bolt was working to improve response time.

Although data network infrastructure in Nigeria has posed challenges, Okafor said that the youthful team at Bolt was working hard to overcome them.
He added that there are plans to expand Bolt’s services which include Lite, Basic and Comfort categories to more cities and towns in the country.