Bolt’s controversial co-founder Ryan Breslow, who returned as CEO earlier this month, spoke on Monday about the $30 million personal loan he took out of his company that sparked legal battles and contributed to his (temporary) ouster.
Breslow also announced that Bolt will launch an “everything app” that will integrate one-click checkouts for everything from crypto to financial services “very soon.”
The legal battle over the loan began in 2023, when Bolt investor Activant sued Breslow. Activant claimed Breslow saddled the startup with $30 million in debt by borrowing that amount and then defaulting, with company funds used to pay it back.
The case was eventually settled, with Bolt agreeing to repurchase Activant’s shares for $37 million last year.
Speaking at Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas yesterday, Breslow defended the loan, framing it as an act of loyalty to Bolt rather than the self-dealing the Activant lawsuit alleged it was.
He said he opted for the loan instead of selling his stock in a secondaries transaction and that the loan was unanimously approved by Bolt’s board.
“It was done to be pro-Bolt,” Breslow said. “I took it out instead of selling any meaningful secondaries. I wanted to show all of our investors that I’m keeping all my chips in, I believe so much in the stock that I’m not selling my shares.”
Breslow said he thought he had plenty of time to pay back the loan and was waiting for Bolt to IPO to do so. He said that after he left the CEO role, the board called in the loan, which he viewed as “a bit of an attack.”
Breslow, the outspoken founder of Bolt, stepped down as CEO in early 2022. In the years between then and his return this year, he has also faced allegations that he misled investors and violated security laws by inflating metrics while fundraising the last time he ran the company.
On Monday, Breslow admitted he made “a ton of mistakes” — but said they were not the ones he was accused of. He viewed his main mistake as allowing people to join Bolt’s cap table that he “did not know very well” (without specifying who).
‘Super app’ in the works
Now that he’s back as CEO, he says Bolt will soon be launching a new “super app” that will integrate Bolt’s one-click checkout e-commerce experience across a wide array of services.
