Swedish retail giant IKEA is investing in a rapidly growing large-goods delivery and fulfilment service from Toronto that is set to expand in the U.S.
Now Bolt is looking for about 400,000 square feet of space in Los Angeles and Houston by early 2022 to start serving the United States – on top of its 500,000 square feet in Canada. And it has focused on bringing “white glove” delivery and set-up service to an underserviced niche – heavy and hard-to-handle items such as couches, treadmills and mattresses. It also provides merchants “pick-and-pack” service to fulfil online orders. The business is adding one to two merchants a day.
That helped win IKEA as a client for last-mile deliveries in big Canadian cities, and as an investor, said Krister Mattsson, managing director of IKEA parent Ingka Holding BV’s investment arm. “This financing showcases the confidence the market has in [Bolt’s] position in Canada and their ambitions … as a technology-led logistics company” with ambitious sustainability goals, Mr. Mattsson said by e-mail.
Bolt started as Second Closet Inc. , a self-storage and logistics startup inspired by Mr. Ang’s experiences looking for a place to affordably store belongings when he lived in a tiny condo. He and co-founder Heindrik Bernabe, the chief technology officer, built a business that would pick up and store a range of items for people, initially targeting University of Toronto students.