In the latest development in Bolt's aggressive fundraising efforts, the fintech company's CEO appeared to implicitly threaten legal action against Silver Bear Capital, the investment bank whose involvement in the deal remains controversial.
“We believe there was an internal miscommunication at one of our major investors, Silver Bear Capital, which has caused unnecessary confusion,” CEO Justin Grooms said in an email reportedly seen by Forbes. “In fact, they have signed a binding agreement to commit $200 million. Our talented legal team at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher stands ready to represent the company to aggressively enforce our rights.”
Bolt, which offers a one-click e-commerce checkout tool, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Veronica Welch, a partner at Silver Bear, told Forbes that “this has nothing to do with a misunderstanding” and that “the transaction was never discussed or approved internally.”
According to a leaked term sheet released earlier this month, Bolt is seeking to raise $200 million in equity investments and $250 million in marketing credits at a $14 billion valuation, with an unusual pay-to-play deal structure that forces existing backers to either invest or lose equity in the company.
It was initially reported that Silver Bear would be leading the equity round, but Brad Pamnani, a partner at the firm, recently told TechCrunch that the deal was actually being put together through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) managed by a United Arab Emirates-based private equity fund.
“Initially there was some confusion because I responded to some things using Silver Bear's email, but Silver Bear was not actually considering this transaction,” Pamnani said.
Meanwhile, London Fund's CEO acknowledged in an interview with TechCrunch that the company was providing “marketing credit” for the deal, but in a statement on Friday, London Fund said it had “not reviewed any part of the documents leaked to the press, and cannot confirm their authenticity.”
“We can confirm that discussions have taken place between the London Fund and Bolt's management team but have not stated that a transaction has been completed at any time,” the company said.