Filing: College app Fizz accuses VC of sharing confidential startup information with rival Sidechat

A years-long suit betwixt the college-focused societal app Fizz and rival Sidechat implicit unfair contention practices has taken an absorbing turn. In a caller filing, Fizz is accusing capitalist Jerry Lu of the task superior steadfast Maveron of gathering with Fizz nether the guise of exploring a imaginable investment, but past turning astir and sharing Fizz’s non-public accusation with its rival, Sidechat.

The caller allegations rise questions astir the relation task capitalists play successful competitory startup markets, arsenic founders routinely stock confidential concern accusation portion fundraising, trusting that investors won’t walk it on to competitors. Some VCs proceed to petition updates from startups they passed on, founders person said.

Image Credits:Fizz

Both Fizz and Sidechat are successful the aforesaid business: anonymous online forums and apps wherever assemblage students tin web and gossip. As a result, contention for students’ attraction is fierce. However, not each universities spot the apps arsenic providing worth to their students. The UNC strategy banned the apps from its campuses crossed North Carolina, citing the bullying and atrocious behaviour that instrumentality spot connected these anonymous societal platforms. On Fizz, for example, students tin simply station an individual’s name, inviting peers to accidental immoderate they privation astir that person.

Fizz originally sued Sidechat successful 2023, alleging a scope of abuses, including attempts to disrupt its launches astatine assorted assemblage campuses, spreading mendacious rumors astir hackers accessing Fizz’s data, sending mendacious spam reports to Instagram, and paying students to delete Fizz’s app.

The archetypal ailment didn’t sanction Lu, arsenic his engagement wasn’t known astatine the time.

Fizz says successful its ailment that it lone learned of Lu’s engagement done the ineligible find process, which revealed his relation successful obtaining and transmitting Fizz’s confidential accusation to Sidechat’s owner, Flower Ave Inc., which besides acquired the Yik Yak app successful 2023.

Fizz’s filing besides alleges that Lu continued to enactment arsenic a conduit, funneling accusation astir Fizz’s fundraising efforts and different matters to Sidechat.

A screenshot of substance attached to the filing shows Lu sharing notes with Flower aft gathering with Fizz successful March 2022, the ailment alleges. In that meeting, Fizz founders Teddy Solomon and Ashton Cofer shared non-public accusation astir Fizz’s “business strategy, maturation plans, campus-launch playbook, idiosyncratic metrics, ambassador program, fundraising efforts, and merchandise roadmap,” the ailment states.

Lu went connected to put successful Sidechat’s 2nd effect circular successful October 2023, per Pitchbook data. However, Fizz claims Lu had been successful discussions with Sidechat arsenic aboriginal 2022.

Additionally, Fizz claims that Jack Burlinson, an acquaintance of some the founders and Lu, shared confidential accusation — including Fizz’s capitalist platform and its Fall Summary for investors — with Lu, who past passed it straight to Sidechat.

Requests for remark sent to Lu and Maveron were not returned. Fizz declined to comment.

Kyle Venn, CEO of the societal media platforms Yik Yak and Sidechat, shared the pursuing remark with TechCrunch via email:

“These are allegations, not tribunal findings. We contradict immoderate wrongdoing and volition code this done the ineligible process. The alleged events happened earlier the existent Sidechat squad acquired the concern successful 2025 and inherited the lawsuit. No 1 connected today’s operating squad was involved. We’re presently focused connected making a large product, not suing different apps.”