TODAY OPINION B2B CONNECTED ECONOMY PYMNTS DATA TRACKER® REPORTS PYMNTS TV NEWS & TRENDS INVESTMENTS Bolt Nets $75 Million In Funding Round For eCommerce Innovation By PYMNTS Listen to Article Posted on December 21, 2020 SHARE TWEET SHARE SHARE EMAIL 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 was founded in 2014 in San Francisco and works on tools to streamline web transactions. While it initially focused on currency in online checkouts, the company has branched out to work on checkout and fraud detection, integrating with companies like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud, according to the the report. Bolt deals with fraud reduction through detecting mouse pointer locations, typing speed and accuracy, copying and pasting behavior, and other data surrounding browsing, cart and checkout. Customers flagged as being possibly malicious can also appeal and prove that they aren't, the report says. Because of a preprocessing technique letting elements load in less than a second, Bolt is able to achieve efficiency, the report says. Customers don't have to enter a billing address and the mobile experience is no-scroll and above the fold, with a post-checkout registration model letting customers wait until after checkout to sign up for an account. There has been a surge in eCommerce this year because of the pandemic, at the expense of in-person shopping as people tried to stay clear of the coronavirus. Data from the IBM U.S. Retail Index showed that this accelerated the digital shift by five years, with eCommerce transactions for grocery orders alone hitting $5.9 billion, the report says. Fraud is becoming more sophisticated and businesses need to learn to combat it. Kount's Gary Sevounts told PYMNTS recently that more advanced ways are needed to look at accounts, assessing whether even verified accounts are trustworthy through looking at email addresses, card numbers and more. —————————— NEW PYMNTS DATA: THE 2021 HOLIDAY SHOPPING OUTLOOK About: It’s almost go time for the holiday shopping season, and nearly 90% of U.S. consumers plan to make at least some of their purchases online — 13% more than did in 2020. The 2021 Holiday Shopping Outlook, PYMNTS surveyed more than 3,600 consumers to learn what is driving online sales this holiday season and the impact of product availability and personalized rewards on merchant preference. RELATED ITEMS:BOLT, ECOMMERCE, FUNDING, INVESTMENTS, NEWS, RETAIL, WHAT'S HOT SHARE TWEET SHARE SHARE EMAIL RECOMMENDED FOR YOU eCommerce Platform Pepper Raises $16M in Series A Funding Innovation Center Launch Could Advance US Digital Currency Bolt Acquires Tipser to Drive Rollout of Remote Checkout TRENDING RIGHT NOW DISBURSEMENTS Lenders Use Automation, Data and Payments Tech to Shorten Approval, Payout Process FACEBOOK Meta Crypto Head David Marcus Departs Company to Pursue Own Ideas CRYPTOCURRENCY Song Remains the Same for Top Crypto Exchange Apps THE BIG STORY CREDIT CARDS It Takes More Than Convenience to Woo Credit Card Users FEATURED NEWS RETAIL US Consumers Say They’ll do Half of Their Remaining Holiday Shopping Online Why the Retail Subscription Market is Just Warming Up In-Store Checkout Set to Drive Buy Now Pay Later Growth Crypto Rewards Drive Sales For Online Merchants The Great Resignation, Gig Economy Growth Fuels Demand for Portable Health Benefits Apps EARNINGS & WALL STREET RETAIL Dollar General Says No Plans to Raise Core Product Prices, Unlike Dollar Tree Rival Allbirds Reports New Stores, Sales Growth After IPO India’s Snapdeal Prepping for $250M IPO Pandemic Concerns Could Dampen Wall Street Enthusiasm for Grab IPO SUBSCRIBE TO TRENDS Connected Economy B2B Payments Cryptocurrency Grocery Innovation Healthcare Payments Mobile Wallets Payments Innovation Restaurant Tech Retail/DTC Innovation Small Business Innovation SPACS/IPOs Subscribe PYMNTS REPORTS Studies Trackers® NEWS Today's News Editors' Picks Retail B2B Opinion MEDIA Podcasts PYMNTS TV Events SUBSCRIBE Main B2B Retail PARTNERSHIPS Partner With Us SUBSCRIBE ABOUT WORK WITH US TERMS & CONDITIONS PRIVACY POLICY CONTACT © 2021 What’s Next Media and Analytics™