Avi Patel on the startup that copied Kled and why he called out General Catalyst by name | E2291

About this episode

Avi Patel discusses the startup he believes copied his company, Kled, and the implications of venture capital involvement.

This Week In Startups is made possible by: Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twist LinkedIn - https://linkedIn.com/twist Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist Why raise $200 million if you are already profitable? That’s the question Jason and Alex put to Mercury’s founder and CEO, Immad Akhund, after the entrepreneur raised another massive round for his upstart, technology-friendly bank. TWiST then welcomed Kled founder Avi Patel to discuss the startup he considers a clear ripoff of his own company. Jason gavels in verdicts on all parties involved, including Y Combinator and venture capital firm General Catalyst. The show closes with a news lightning round, including OpenAI’s decision to offer $2 million in token credits to hundreds of startups. Guest Links: Mercury https://mercury.com Mercury funding announcement https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520511817/en/Mercury-Raises-$200-Million-Series-D-at-$5.2B-Valuation Immad Akhund on X https://x.com/immad Kled https://www.kled.ai/ Avi Patel on X https://x.com/avipat_/ Avi’s complaint https://x.com/avipat_/status/2055384102409253056 General Catalyst…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Calacanis

Guest: Avi Patel

Topics covered

• startup funding
• venture capital
• technology banking
• entrepreneurship
• startup competition
• business ethics

Keywords

• startup
• venture capital
• Kled
• General Catalyst
• Avi Patel
• Immad Akhund
• Mercury
• OpenAI
• business ethics

Sponsors

Grasshopper Bank, LinkedIn, Northwest Registered Agent, Plaud

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Mercury, OpenAI

Products: Kled

More episodes of This Week in Startups

• SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 · June 13, 2026 · 1h 20m
• Why the most expensive Seed deals are the cheapest | E2299 · June 10, 2026 · 1h 8m
• The AI Tutor That Makes Kids Actually Think | E2298 · June 8, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Anthropic wants to slow AI down and Bernie wants 50%: JCal Reacts | E2297 · June 6, 2026 · 1h 33m
• The project SpaceX's first employee raised $500M for · June 3, 2026 · 1h 2m
• This Startup Fused Human Brain Cells with Silicon Chips | E2295 · June 1, 2026 · 1h 6m