Solid
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Solid (formerly Wise) was a Palo Alto-based banking-as-a-service fintech founded by Arjun Thyagarajan and Raghav Lal. It offered banking, payments, cards and crypto products via APIs to fintech and vertical-SaaS companies, billing itself as 'the AWS of fintech.' It raised nearly $81 million from investors including FTV Capital and Headline, and was valued at $330 million at its August 2022 $63 million Series B.
02 / Solid FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Solid could not raise more capital after its 2022 Series B and was drained by costly litigation. In 2023, Series B lead investor FTV Capital sued Solid to claw back its $61 million investment, alleging the co-founders 'lied to FTV concerning the company's revenues, customer churn, and business generally.' Faced with $760,000 in unsecured debt and the investor fight, Solid filed for Chapter 11 (Subchapter V) bankruptcy protection in Delaware on April 7, 2025, pursuing a court-supervised sale or restructuring.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Solid founded in Palo Alto by Arjun Thyagarajan and Raghav Lal as a BaaS/API fintech platform.
- Series B
Solid raises a $63M Series B led by FTV Capital at a $330M valuation; claims 10x revenue growth, 100 customers and profitability.
- Investor lawsuit
FTV Capital sues Solid, alleging the founders lied about revenues and churn, and seeks return of its $61M investment.
- Chapter 11
On April 7, 2025, Solid files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware to pursue a court-supervised sale or restructuring.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Founded 2017 (record; some sources cite 2018).
- 02
Raised ~$81M; valued $330M at Aug 2022 Series B.
- 03
2023: FTV Capital sued for $61M clawback.
- 04
Apr 7, 2025: Chapter 11 (Subchapter V) filed in Delaware; unsecured debt $760K.
- 05
No reliable company-level loss figure disclosed.