Bolt reportedly threatened legal action against Silverbear Capital

In the latest twist in Bolt’s aggressive fundraising efforts, the fintech’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 dispute.

“We believe there was an internal miscommunication at Silverbear Capital, one of our lead investors, that caused unnecessary confusion,” CEO Justin Grooms wrote in an email reportedly seen by Forbes. “The fact is they signed a binding term committing $200 million. Our exceptional team of attorneys at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher stands ready to represent the company in its pursuit of vigorously enforcing our rights.”

Bolt, which offers one-click online checkout tools, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Silverbear partner Veronica Welch told Forbes that “this was never about any miscommunication” and that the deal was “never discussed or approved within the company.”

Earlier this month, a leaked term sheet showed Bolt was looking to raise $200 million in equity funding and $250 million in “marketing loans” at a $14 billion valuation, with a structure unusual of pay-to-play transactions that would essentially force out existing backers. either invest or lose their holdings in the company.

While Silverbear was initially reported to be leading the equity round, the firm’s partner Brad Pamnani recently told TechCrunch that it is actually closing the deal through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) managed by an Emirates-based private equity fund United Arabs.

“In the beginning, I used my Silverbear email to respond to some things and that caused some confusion, but Silverbear never looked into this business,” 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 on Friday saying it had not seen and could not “confirm the validity of any part of a document leaked to the media”.

“We can confirm that there have been discussions between The London Fund and Bolt’s management; however, at no time have we declared that a transaction has been completed,” the firm said.