Bolt

“Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow is raising up to $27 million in a convertible note bridge financing round for the fintech startup.”

“The company, which hit an $11 billion valuation in early 2022 before plummeting 97% to $300 million”

“It also includes a punitive 'pay-to-play' provision, meaning backers who don't participate will lose a large portion of their equity in the company.”

“And that's why we decided to partner with them to be the leader in robot taxis in Europe.”

“Constraints really force you to be innovative, force you to be efficient. When you're starting a business as a 19-year-old in a small country with barely any VC ecosystem, obviously you gotta make by with being 10 or 100 times more clever than your competition.”

“Bolt raised ~$2 billion total while Uber raised $24 billion before IPO, yet Bolt became the dominant mobility platform across 50+ countries.”

“The other rationale, which was the first acquisition we did last year, was if there's a licensing or regulatory barrier where we can't enter a particular market. And that's the reason we acquired one of these companies in Denmark last year because honestly it has some of the worst regulation in the world, so it was impossible for us to enter organically.”