Bolt’s controversial co -founder, Ryan Breslow, who returned as CEO earlier this month, spoke on Monday about the $ 30 million in personal loan he extracted from his company that sparked legal battle and contributed to his (temporary) bar.
Breslow also announced that Bolt will launch a “app everything” that the one -click’s crate will integrate for everything, from crypt to “very quickly” financial services.
The legal battle on credit began in 2023, when investor activist Bolt sued Breslow. The activist claimed that Breslow saddled the start with $ 30m debt by borrowing it too much and then not predetermined, with the company’s funds used to pay it.
The matter was finally resolved, with Bolt agreeing to repurchase activism shares for $ 37 million last year.
Speaking at the Fintech meeting in Las Vegas yesterday, Breslow defended the loan, adapting it as an act of loyalty to Bolt than the self-treatment of the activism lawsuit claimed it was.
He said he made the loan instead of selling his shares to a secondary transaction and that the loan was unanimously approved by the Bolt board.
“Was done to be pro-roof,” Breslow said. “I brought it out instead of selling a significant secondary. I wanted to show all our investors that I am keeping all my chips, I believe so much in the actions that I am not selling my shares.”
Breslow said he thought he had a lot of time to pay the loan and was waiting for Bolt to IPO to do it. He said that after he left the role of CEO, the board called on the loan, which he saw as “little attack”.
Breslow, Bolt’s open founder, withdrew as CEO at the beginning of 2022. In the years between that time and his return this year, he has also faced accusations that he cheated investors and violated security laws by puffing metrics while collecting funds the last time he runs the company.
On Monday, Breslow admitted that he made “a ton of mistakes” – but said they were not the ones he was accused of. He looked at his main mistake as allowing people to join Bolt’s lids that he “did not know very well” (without specifying who).
‘Super App’ in works
Now that he’s back as CEO, he says Bolt will soon launch a new “super app” that will integrate the e-commerce experience with a click of Bolt into a wide set of services.
“Instead of one-click cashier, we will have a click everything: financial services, colleagues-college, cryptocurrencies, cards, financial products, all in an app,” he said.
Breslow compared Bolt to Revolut Fintech in the United Kingdom, which was rated $ 45 billion last year, claiming that Bolt has 80 million “wallets” compared to 45 million revolies, though he admitted that Bolt has not yet “mounted our customers”.
Indeed, Bolt’s ARR has stayed at about $ 28 million with $ 7 million in gross profit since the end of March 2024, Newcomer reported the technique of technology last year. This is small compared to the revolt, which announced $ 2.2 billion in revenue and $ 545 million in profits (before tax only) for 2023.
The big question left for Bolt is the status of collecting its next fund. In August, the news broke for a $ 450 million funding agreement. But she raised questions about her unusual use of $ 250 million in “marketing credit” and lack of confirmation from an investor mistakenly identified as his leadership.
Some of Bolt’s investors, including Blackrock and Hedosophia, the lawsuit to block the round, reported forbes, but has voluntarily rejected by all parties, Bolt announced today.
Breslow pointed out during his speech that “all” legal issues against him “were completely resolved, fired” but did not provide an update in the $ 450 million fund.
He commented, however, that he was “humble” from his experience and found a new determination to run Bolt after his faith and himself – and the beginning of it – was challenged.
“You know, I definitely make mistakes, but I have a very big chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I’m about to get bolt in height with really new.”
Blackrock and Hedosophia did not respond to a comment request.
