A years-long lawsuit between the college-focused social app Fizz and rival Sidechat over unfair competitors practices has taken an attention-grabbing flip. In a new filing, Fizz is accusing investor Jerry Lu, who’s with enterprise capital agency Maveron, of assembly with Fizz below the guise of exploring a possible funding, however then turning round and sharing Fizz’s private info with its rival, Sidechat.
The brand new allegations elevate questions in regards to the position enterprise capitalists play in aggressive startup markets, as founders routinely share confidential enterprise info whereas fundraising, trusting that traders received’t move it alongside to opponents. Some VCs proceed to request updates from startups they handed on, founders have said.
Each Fizz and Sidechat are in the identical enterprise: nameless on-line boards and apps the place faculty college students can community and gossip. In consequence, competitors for college students’ consideration is fierce. Nonetheless, not all universities see the apps as offering worth to their college students. The UNC system banned the apps from its campuses throughout North Carolina, citing the bullying and dangerous conduct that happen on these nameless social platforms. On Fizz, for instance, college students can merely publish a person’s identify, inviting friends to say no matter they need about that particular person.
Fizz originally sued Sidechat in 2023, alleging a spread of abuses, together with makes an attempt to disrupt its launches at numerous faculty campuses, spreading false rumors about hackers accessing Fizz’s information, sending false spam studies to Instagram, and paying college students to delete Fizz’s app.
The unique criticism didn’t identify Lu, as his involvement wasn’t recognized on the time.
Fizz says in its criticism that it solely discovered of Lu’s involvement by way of the authorized discovery course of, which revealed his position in acquiring and transmitting Fizz’s confidential info to Sidechat’s proprietor, Flower Ave Inc., which additionally acquired the Yik Yak app in 2023.
Fizz’s submitting additionally alleges that Lu continued to behave as a conduit, funneling details about Fizz’s fundraising efforts and different issues to Sidechat.
A screenshot of a textual content connected to the filing reveals Lu sharing notes with Flower after assembly with Fizz in March 2022, the criticism alleges. In that assembly, Fizz founders Teddy Solomon and Ashton Cofer shared private details about Fizz’s “enterprise technique, progress plans, campus-launch playbook, consumer metrics, ambassador program, fundraising efforts, and product roadmap,” the criticism states.
Lu went on to spend money on Sidechat’s second seed spherical in October 2023, per PitchBook information. Nonetheless, Fizz claims Lu had been in discussions with Sidechat as early as 2022.
Moreover, Fizz claims that Jack Burlinson, an acquaintance of each the founders and Lu, shared confidential info — together with Fizz’s investor deck and its fall abstract for traders — with Lu, who then handed it on to Sidechat.
Requests for remark despatched to Lu and Maveron weren’t returned. Fizz declined to remark.
Kyle Venn, CEO of the social media platforms Yik Yak and Sidechat, shared the next remark with TechCrunch through electronic mail:
“These are allegations, not court docket findings. We deny any wrongdoing and can deal with this by way of the authorized course of. The alleged occasions occurred earlier than the present Sidechat workforce acquired the enterprise in 2025 and inherited the lawsuit. Nobody on right this moment’s working workforce was concerned. We’re at the moment centered on making an excellent product, not suing different apps.”
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