Former Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow subject of SEC probe – The US Securities and Exchange Commission summoned Ryan Breslow, the co-founder and former CEO of the e-commerce software firm Bolt, along with the company last year. The Information broke the story first on Friday.
In an April letter, a lawyer representing Bolt investors stated that the SEC was looking into whether federal securities laws were violated in connection with representations made when Bolt was raising funds in 2021. The letter was written to Bolt’s general counsel as part of a demand to inspect the company’s documents on behalf of two Bolt investors, WestCap Management’s Brian Reinken and Tribe Capital Management’s Arjun Sethi, who were Series C and B investors, respectively.
According to the letter cited by The Information, Breslow “misled” investors while soliciting funds for the business’s $355 million Series E round, which valued the company at $11 billion. Breslow “made material misrepresentations about the Company’s financial condition and product pipeline that resulted in the Series E investors buying into the Company at a grossly inflated valuation.” according to the attorney for WestCap and Tribe Capital.
Breslow generated news in both favorable and negative ways linked to comments he made regarding competitors and investors shortly after the Series E fundraising was announced in January 2022, and ended up standing down as Bolt’s CEO. Soon after, he started Love, a health marketplace, according to his LinkedIn profile, in January 2022.
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Speaking about the subpoena and lawsuit, an SEC spokesperson told TechCrunch that the agency “does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.”
In a separate case, former board member Activant Ventures’ Steve Sarracino filed a complaint this week against Breslow, alleging that Breslow dismissed him and two other board members when they refused to help Breslow return a $30 million debt. Sarracino’s suit also claims that CEO Maju Kuruvilla and three subsequent board members did not compel Breslow to make loan repayments.
When contacted for comment, Breslow did not answer personally, but instead sent in a Bolt spokeswoman who recognized the loan case, stating via email,, “Bolt is not the direct target of this litigation, and we continue to seek resolution of the outstanding amount. We remain well-capitalized and the existence of this outstanding obligation to the company does not and will not affect our day-to-day operations or prospects.”
Bolt was a hot item at the time it announced its Series E fundraising.
While speaking about taking in $355 million, Breslow said at the time, “It may seem like a lot of money raised, but actually no, this is capital for us to be competitive. We don’t just want to be on par with competitors, but be better. The capital will enable us to bring in the best talent, make strategic acquisitions and expand into Europe, which is important to us.”
Though Bolt had little to no issues attracting substantial sums of funding at the time, Breslow has been open about his early struggles to recruit Silicon Valley investors. He began posting those opinions on Twitter shortly after the Series E.
He resigned as CEO not long after, stating that his decision was unrelated to the attention his tweets received.
Soon later, it appeared that Bolt’s life was still on a rollercoaster. In May 2022, the company was sued by one of its largest customers (the lawsuit was settled months later). The next day, it was reported on a blog post written by CEO Maju Kuruvilla, which claimed a 131% year-over-year growth in shopper accounts and a 192% year-over-year increase in total active merchant accounts.
Just a few weeks later, Bolt laid off over 100 employees in a restructuring move that Kuruvilla attributed to changing market conditions, writing, “It’s no secret that the market conditions across our industry and the tech sector are changing, and against the macro challenges, we’ve been taking measures to adapt our business. In an effort to ensure Bolt owns its own destiny, the leadership team and I have made the decision to secure our financial position, extend our runway, and reach profitability with the money we have already raised.”
Following the Series E, The New York Times claimed that Bolt’s leadership initiated another round of talks with investors to seek additional funding at a $14 billion value.
