Bolt's big deal comes under new scrutiny
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Checkout tech company Bolt Financial is just days away from learning if it persuaded enough investors to sign off on a Hail Mary fundraising round that would reinstall controversial founder Ryan Breslow as CEO.
The latest: There are new questions about one of its potential new partners, called The London Fund.
Catch up quick: We previously reported that the deal, which would give Breslow millions of dollars and indemnification from lawsuits, would include $200 million from a UAE-based special purpose vehicle that still refuses to share the names of its partners.
- It also would include a purported $250 million in influencer marketing credits from The London Fund, which has an existing relationship with another Breslow startup called Love.
- Bolt also would make an investment into The London Fund, with Breslow joining its board.
Zoom in: The London Fund invests cash into startups, but mostly provides these so-called marketing credits — whereby they use a network of mid-sized influencers to help hype products.
- Like other venture funds, its website includes a portfolio page, with logos of startups in which it's invested.
Behind the scenes: The London Fund listed 20 active portfolio companies as of yesterday morning.
- So I called some of those companies, a number of which had never heard of The London Fund.
- Lingerie company ThirdLove, for example, was apparently listed because a strategic advisor to The London Fund made a personal investment in ThirdLove's seed round.
- Sames goes for fantasy sports startup Underdog.
- Genies, a unicorn avatar tech company, was there because a different firm that invested into The London Fund bought a some shares via a secondary transaction.
- As of this morning, The London Fund now only lists 13 active portfolio companies on its website. Apparently the firm didn't return my inquiry because it was too busy scrubbing 35% of its logos.
Bonus: The remaining portfolio companies include at least one that was so unimpressed by The London Fund's "marketing credits" performance that it opted not to take its full allotment.
- The London Fund also is listed in PitchBook as an investor in several funding rounds for these fake portfolio companies, and the research firm is investigating how that happened. For example, it's a purported participant in ThirdLove's Series C round, even though it wasn't.
The bottom line: Bolt's investors have spent the past week trying to do due diligence with information that not only was incomplete, but downright false.
