VC leading Bolt’s hoped-for $450M deal confirms he’s offering ‘marketing credits’
Ashesh Shah, the founder and CEO of The London Fund is, as you might imagine, bullish on Bolt. The London Fund is a U.K. venture firm
Ashesh Shah, the founder and CEO of The London Fund is, as you might imagine, bullish on Bolt. The London Fund is a U.K. venture firm with “over $1 billion in cash and assets” in AUM that is leading a proposed $450 million raise for Bolt, a one-click checkout startup that has been embroiled in a number of controversies over the years.
But all that isn’t deterring Shah, who describes the term sheet that is in play for Bolt as “a fabulous transaction about a company that we believe has a lot more room left in it.”
What are you able to say about this proposed transaction?
Shah: The London Fund has been around since 2003. We are always looking for Ferraris with flat tires. Sometimes people don’t understand why. Maybe it’s not the right color. Maybe it’s not what the market knows. We’re deeply technical. I’m a multi-time founder, and have gone through a lot of this. We really at the end of the day saw something here that is quite special. Bolt has an unbelievable reach — if you look at the number of wallets and people that have used the system, how it works, and if you compare them to like a Shopify, or to some of the other bigger players, they’re on par. I think that’s a hidden gem.
If you look at the ability over time, if you launch the Super App, the ability to have interactions between wallet holders. When you start looking at Shopify or Bolt, and you start realizing that the user base is massive, and you have a big opportunity.
Obviously, this is a term sheet — it’s not yet final. There are a lot of things that would need to happen for the pay-to-play/cramdown to work. What do you think are the chances this is approved?
I hope this goes to conclusion. We’ve worked very hard on this. There’s been six months of thinking and working and tracking. We believe that what we bring to the table as a firm and what Bolt has can lead to some amazing new activity. I think there’s a lot of value for all the shareholders. I think a lot of folks have got it quite wrong. We’re simply asking that existing shareholders show that they’re committed to the future of what this journey looks like. Right?
We’re not saying anything negative, but I’m sort of saying, if I’m putting my skin in the game, then I want others to make sure that they’re there. And I think, assuming all goes well, then hopefully this transaction concludes quite well, and we’ve left it open so others can come in with capital as well. We’re simply leading on this. There’s plenty of room.
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