The e-hailing arena could potentially see the arrival of a new player soon as Estonian company Bolt may be making moves to operate in Malaysia. As reported by Paultan, the ride-sharing firm recently posted a job listing on Linkedin for a country manager in Malaysia, hinting of its imminent local launch.
In the job description, the company says that the position entails leading the launch of its app in the country. Currently, the app is available in over 500 cities in more than 45 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In Southeast Asia, it is only operating in Thailand, so Malaysia could be its second market in the region.
Far from just offering ride-hailing services, its platform has evolved into a super app just like Grab. This means it also offers services such as food and grocery delivery, scooter rentals, as well as car-sharing, although it is still too early to speculate on which services exactly it will operate here.
Earlier this year, the super app introduced a suite of new safety features in Thailand including selfie verification for drivers, trip status sharing, an in-app option to call emergency services, and more. As of 8 February 2024, the company has not yet received a licence to operate an e-hailing service by the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD).
