Bolt vs Grab

AI Text Box Loses to Simple Sign-Up Buttons in A/B Test

A newsletter article describes an A/B test by forms.app, a form builder with 4 million users. The test, shown to 25,000 new visitors, compared three homepage variants: an AI text box for describing a form, sign-up buttons (Google, Apple, email), and a single 'Create a form for free' button. The sign-up buttons converted at 15.15%, the 'Create a form' button at 9.60%, and the AI text box at only 5.74%. The AI box also performed worst on other metrics, with 84% of viewers clicking nothing. The author emphasizes that requiring users to think or type before value is a barrier, recommending moving such questions after signup, adding clickable example buttons, or asking for easily pasteable inputs like a URL. The article also mentions Microsoft Clarity as a tool for observing user behavior.

• forms.app A/B test on 25,000 new visitors showed sign-up buttons converted at 15.15%, 'Create a form' button at 9.60%, and AI text box at 5.74%.
• The AI text box had the lowest engagement with 84% of viewers clicking nothing.
• The 'Create a form' button attracted fewer sign-ups but more active users (3.63% vs 3.23%) and more buyers (0.176% vs 0.102%).

Finmid Raises €17M, Partners with Bolt

Berlin-based fintech Finmid, founded in 2021 by former N26 executives Max Schertel and Alexander Talkanitsa, has raised a €17 million Series A extension round led by Big Pi Ventures and Mainset, with participation from Earlybird. The company provides white-label embedded lending services to platforms. Finmid also announced a multi-year vehicle financing deal with Estonian ride-hailing firm Bolt, offering up to €400,000 per fleet operator over four years, and a merchant lending agreement with Greek marketplace Skroutz. The new funds will support expansion into asset finance, infrastructure, underwriting, and further growth in mobility and e-commerce sectors. With this round, Finmid's total funding stands at €52 million.

• Finmid raised €17 million in a Series A extension round led by Big Pi Ventures and Mainset, with participation from Earlybird.
• The company was founded by former N26 employees Max Schertel and Alexander Talkanitsa.
• Finmid signed a multi-year vehicle financing deal with Bolt, providing up to €400,000 per fleet operator over four years.

AI App Builder bilt.me Raises $700K Pre-Seed

Estonian AI app-building platform bilt.me has raised $700,000 (€614.9k) in pre-seed funding led by Superhero Capital, with participation from Bolt founder Markus Villig and Lightyear founder Martin Sokk. Founded in August 2025 as a hackathon project, bilt.me uses an AI agent that guides users from idea to live native iOS and Android applications. The platform has reached six figures in annual recurring revenue, doubling month-over-month for three consecutive months. Thousands of users are building apps, with 75% being consumer apps. The company also developed its own payments, cloud, and sharing infrastructure (Bilt Payments, Bilt Cloud, Bilt Link) due to a lack of suitable tools. The funding will support global expansion and further development of its application-building capabilities.

• bilt.me raised $700,000 (€614.9k) in pre-seed funding led by Superhero Capital.
• Markus Villig (Bolt founder) and Martin Sokk (Lightyear founder) participated in the round.
• The platform generates native Android and iOS apps from plain language descriptions.

Grab Cuts ANRs 32%, Boosts Startup 35% with R8

Southeast Asian superapp Grab optimized its Android app with R8 code shrinking, Baseline Profiles, and Profile Guided Optimization. The initiative reduced user-perceived Application Not Responding (ANR) rates by 32.5%, cut download size by 30.4%, and improved cold start time by 35%. Rolled out in phases during 2025 and 2026, Grab migrated from legacy ProGuard to R8 Compat mode, then Full mode, and refined keep rules. The migration addressed a 10-year-old codebase with over 10 million lines of code. R8's permanent structural advantage ensures future code expansion won't proportionally bloat app size, crucial in the AI-assisted development era. The team plans CI guardrails to maintain optimization scores.

• Grab reduced user-perceived ANR rates by 32.5%.
• App download size reduced by 30.4%.
• Cold start time improved by 35%.

6-K Financial Filing Analysis for Grab (2026-09-15)

Grab Holdings Limited filed a Form 6-K on September 15, 2026, announcing an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Atome Financial, a prominent digital consumer financing and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform in Southeast Asia. The transaction reinforces Grab's fintech roadmap by integrating Atome's consumer credit, installment payment capabilities, and merchant network into its regional superapp ecosystem across mobility, deliveries, and financial services.

• Grab Holdings Limited entered into a definitive transaction to acquire a majority stake in Atome Financial (Exhibit 99.1).
• The Form 6-K was signed and authorized by Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey on September 15, 2026.
• The report is formally incorporated by reference into Grab's active Form F-3 registration statements (Nos. 333-261949 and 333-264872).

Investor Presentation Released: Grab Holdings Inc.

AI parsed presentation narrative: Grab delivered robust operational and financial results in Q2 2026, marked by 22% YoY revenue growth and a 54% YoY surge in Adjusted EBITDA. Growth was driven by accelerated On-Demand GMV, expanding GrabMart penetration, and rapid scaling in Financial Services through Superbank and Stash, prompting management to raise full-year 2026 revenue and EBITDA guidance. Strategic pillars: On-Demand Marketplace Resilience, High-Frequency Deliveries & Grocery Expansion.