In the latest twist in Bolt’s aggressive fundraising efforts, the fintech company’s CEO appears to have made a veiled threat of legal action against Silverbear Capital, the investment bank whose involvement in the deal remains in some dispute.
“We believe there was some internal miscommunication at Silverbear Capital, one of our lead investors, which has caused unnecessary confusion,” CEO Justin Grooms wrote in an email reportedly viewed by Forbes. “The fact is, they signed a binding term sheet committing $200 million. Our exceptional legal team at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher stands ready to represent the company in seeking to enforce our rights vigorously.”
Bolt, which offers tools for one-click e-commerce checkout, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Silverbear partner Veronica Welch told Forbes that “this never had anything to do with any miscommunications” and that the deal “was never discussed or approved in the company.”
Earlier this month, a leaked term sheet showed that Bolt was aiming to raise $200 million in equity funding and $250 million in “marketing credits” at a $14 billion valuation, with an unusual pay-to-play deal structure that would essentially force existing backers to either invest or lose their stakes in the company.
While Silverbear was initially reported to be leading the equity round, the firm’s partner Brad Pamnani recently told TechCrunch he’s actually putting the deal together through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) managed by a private equity fund based in the United Arab Emirates.
“At the beginning, I used my Silverbear email to respond to some things and that caused some confusion but Silverbear was never actually looking at this deal,” Pamnani said.
Meanwhile, The London Fund’s CEO confirmed in an interview with TechCrunch that the firm is contributing “marketing credits” to the deal. However, The London Fund released a statement Friday saying that it has not seen and cannot “confirm the validity of any part of a document leaked to the press.”
“We can confirm that there have been discussions between The London Fund and Bolt’s management; however, at no point have we stated that a transaction has concluded,” the firm said.