Federal securities regulators have filed a civil action against a New York fintech startup and its founder, accusing them of raising millions of dollars with financial records that did not reflect the company’s real results.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Gökçe Güven and Kalder Inc., alleging that the company and its founder collected about $6.7 million from investors after inflating revenue and exaggerating how many customers were actually paying for the product.
According to a complaint filed on October 2 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), the defendants violated federal securities law by giving investors fabricated financial information during a fundraising effort that ran from roughly April 2024 through December 2024.
The agency’s account centers on a gap between the numbers shown to prospective backers and the books kept inside the business.
Regulators say Kalder maintained two sets of records.
One set, kept by an outside bookkeeper, reflected the company’s actual finances.
The complaint, as described in reporting on the filing, contrasts that internal record with materials presented to investors that overstated both revenue and the size of the paying customer base.
Kalder has been positioned as a New York fintech company tied to brand rewards and loyalty programs, a category in which early-stage firms often pitch growth through recurring revenue and named commercial partners.
Those metrics matter in private fundraising because venture investors use them to judge whether a young company has paying demand, not merely interest in a pilot.
An overstated customer count or an inflated revenue figure can change how a round is priced and whether capital is committed at all.
The civil case arrives after a separate criminal proceeding in the same district.
In May 2026, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced that Güven, Kalder’s founder and former chief executive, had pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and agreed to forfeit nearly $7 million.
Prosecutors said she misled more than a dozen venture investors about revenue and brand relationships, including by circulating a pitch deck that claimed substantial annual recurring revenue and a large roster of brands using the product.
They also said an outside accounting firm prepared an accurate internal ledger, while a second set of figures with higher numbers was sent to investors.
Güven, 26, faced a statutory maximum of five years on that count, with sentencing set before US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
The SEC action is a different proceeding.
A civil complaint seeks remedies available to the agency, such as injunctions, disgorgement, and penalties, and it does not itself impose a criminal sentence.
The October filing focuses on the fundraising window from spring through late 2024 and on the claim that investors were shown fabricated financial records while the company raised $6.7 million.
Those allegations have not been adjudicated in the civil case, and the complaint represents the regulator’s version of events.
The dual-track posture is familiar in private-market fraud matters.
Criminal prosecutors can pursue imprisonment and forfeiture after a plea or trial, while the SEC can press a parallel civil case against both an individual and the company.
Naming Kalder as a defendant, as well as Güven, puts the corporate entity itself under the securities claims tied to the fundraising materials.
For investors in early-stage fintech, the dispute underscores how much private rounds still depend on unaudited metrics supplied by founders.
Annual recurring revenue, paying-customer counts, and brand-partner lists are often accepted with limited independent verification.
When those figures diverge from the books maintained by an outside bookkeeper, regulators treat the gap as more than aggressive marketing.
In the SEC’s telling, the difference was fabricated financial reporting used to raise capital. The complaint remains pending in Manhattan federal court. Further filings would be expected to set out the precise claims, the relief sought, and any response from Güven and Kalder.