TikTok competitor Triller has been sued by a creditor for allegedly defaulting on a US$35.5 million high-interest loan.
A Yorkville Advisors hedge fund said that AGBA, which merged with video-sharing app Triller this year, violated the terms of a June promissory note.
“The Company intends to defend itself vigorously. No prediction can be made as to the outcome of the lawsuit,” Triller said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
AGBA, a Hong Kong financial services company, borrowed US$33.5 million from Yorkville hedge fund YA II PN to cover operational costs this year.
Its agreement with YA II PN required AGBA and Triller to complete their merger by August 2024, as well as file a statement with the SEC to account for stock issued to YA II PN.
The merger was instead completed in October, and YA II PN said in its lawsuit that Triller missed its deadline to file an SEC statement. According to YA II PN, this triggered a monthly payment obligation, which Triller allegedly did not pay.
YA II PN has asked the New York Supreme Court to order Triller to fully repay its loan including interest, totalling $35.5 million.
Triller began trading on the NASDAQ exchange in October, after scrapping bids to debut in 2022 and 2023. It appointed former TikTok Head of Product Sean Kim as CEO in November, and said last week it would begin overhauling its video discovery and monetisation experiences from 2025’s first quarter.
Triller’s (NASDAQ: ILLR) share price closed at US$3.85 on Friday after the suit was announced last week, up from the previous day’s $3.46. Its market cap is US$597.4 million.