Bolt CEO Breslow seeks $27M bridge funding to sustain operations

Ryan Breslow, the co-founder and current chief executive of the checkout processing firm Bolt, is raising a bridge financing round of up to $27 million to keep the company afloat. The entrepreneur, who returned to the CEO role in March 2025 after a three-year absence, stated that the capital is intended to allow the business to capitalise on recent operational milestones and clear legacy obligations. This short-term financing is structured as a convertible note, meaning it will convert into equity at a discount once Bolt closes a future funding round. The round also includes a punitive pay-to-play provision, which stipulates that existing backers who do not participate will lose a significant portion of their equity in the company.

Bolt, which was co-founded in 2014, experienced a dramatic shift in its market position. The startup reached a valuation of $11 billion in early 2022 before suffering a 97 per cent decline to $300 million. Breslow, who did not respond to requests for comment on the specific nature of the legacy obligations mentioned in the company’s press release, insists that the new financing is a step toward closing a full Series E2 round. He claims the company is nearing profitability and returning to growth after years of shrinking revenue, although he declined to disclose how much cash remains on the balance sheet. Startups typically seek bridge financing either when they are performing well and need time to reach the next milestone, or when they are running low on cash and require time to restructure or achieve profitability.

Breslow is personally committing $5 million to the round to demonstrate his confidence in the company’s future. He estimates that participation from Bolt’s approximately 100 existing investors will total at least $15 million, though he acknowledged that not all shareholders are expected to join in. One angel backer, who requested anonymity, confirmed through a wealth manager that he intends to participate. Breslow stated that the board and a majority of preferred shareholders have signed off on the new fundraise, contrasting this with a previous attempt to raise $450 million at a $14 billion valuation. That earlier deal collapsed after existing investors, including BlackRock and Hedosophia, sued to block it following revelations about the credibility of lead backers. The lawsuit was later voluntarily dismissed by all parties.

The path to this new financing has been lengthy. Breslow told TechCrunch shortly after his reinstatement that he was in early conversations about a new round, but it took more than a year to bring the company to a point where a fundraise could be publicly announced. Breslow maintains that Bolt would be in a stronger position today had he continued running the company from 2022 to 2025, arguing that the firm lost customers during his absence. He remains convinced he can restore Bolt to its former glory, describing the company as the Lyft to Stripe’s Uber. His strategy relies on the growth of the super app Bolt introduced last year, which integrates financial services, peer-to-peer payments, crypto, and credit cards into a one-click checkout experience.

Despite reducing its headcount from 900 employees in 2021 to about 60 today, Breslow claims that artificial intelligence is allowing the company to operate far more efficiently. He stated that the firm is getting ten times more done and shipping ten times faster because of AI. Breslow argues that Bolt possesses a competitive advantage that would be impossible to replicate from scratch. Unlike other founders of fallen unicorns who have chosen to walk away and launch new ventures, Breslow is not ready to abandon the company. He revealed that friends have offered him $10 million to start a new company, allowing him to avoid the turnaround and the complex situation with Bolt, but he has refused to give up on the startup he founded at age 19 as a Stanford dropout.