Overview

Product Description

Sidecar was a pioneer in the ride-sharing market and was focused on building the world's most convenient and affordable transportation network created for and powered by every day people. The company eventually pivoted away from just transporting people and offered a Postmates-like courier service.

Quick Stats

2010

Started in

Dec, 2015

Closed in

51-200

Employee (s)

$35,520,000

Total Raised

Why did Sidecar fail?

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Evan Lee

Updated on 15 Aug, 2017

Competition

Ran Out of Funding

Founded in 2010, Sidecar was the first startup in the real-time ride-sharing market, but quickly faced competition from Uber and Lyft.&nbsp;Although Sidecar offered similar ride-sharing features to Uber and Lyft, the company was essentially "<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2015/12/29/ride-share-pioneer-sidecar-shuts-down-outmuscled-by-uber-and-lyft/#2e0d7e4729fe target=" _blank"="" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2015/12/29/ride-share-pioneer-sidecar-shuts-down-outmuscled-by-uber-and-lyft/#2e0d7e4729fe">outmuscled</a></a>" by its&nbsp;competitors. Sidecar only managed to raise $35 million in five rounds of funding, while at the time Uber and Lyft had raised $6.61 billion and $1.26 billion, respectively.&nbsp;Sidecar attempted to pivot from passenger ride-share to business and food delivery. Other companies such as Yelp's Eat25 and cannabis delivery startup Meadow used Sidecar to carry out their deliveries. However, Sidecar failed to find its foothold in those markets, too.&nbsp;Ultimately, funding dried up and Sidecar faced shutting down. However, Sidecar CEO Sunil Paul managed to find a buyer for the company. In March 2017, Paul announced that US car manufacturer General Motors had acqui-hired Sidecar.&nbsp;In a blog <a href="https://www.side.cr/why-we-sold-to-gm/ target=" _blank"=""><a href="https://www.side.cr/why-we-sold-to-gm/">post</a></a> titled "Why We Sold to GM", Paul wrote, "Why the sale? In short, we were forced to shut down operations and sell. We were unable to compete against Uber, a company that raised more capital than any other in history and is infamous for its anti-competitive behavior... We failed – for the most part – because Uber is willing to win at any cost and they have practically limitless capital to do it."

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Investors - 23

Funding Rounds - 4

Seed - $520,000

Series A - $10,000,000

Series B - $10,000,000

Series C - $15,000,000

Founders

Sunil Paul

Jahan Khanna

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Evan Lee

Sidecar

2010

Started in

Dec, 2015

Closed in

51-200

Employee (s)

$35,520,000

Total Raised

Why did Sidecar fail?

Evan Lee

Updated on 15 Aug, 2017

Avalon Ventures

Correlation Ventures

Fenox Venture Capital

First Step Fund

GV

Huron River Ventures

Jared Kopf

Jeffery Clarke

Josh Silverman

Konstantin Othmer

Lerer Hippeau Ventures

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Lisa Gansky

Mark Pincus

Richard Branson

Robert Goldberg

SGVC

SoftBank

Spring Ventures

SV Angel

Tekton Ventures

Thomas Verghese

Union Square Ventures

Seed - $520,000

First Step Fund

Huron River Ventures

Jared Kopf

Jeffery Clarke

Josh Silverman

Konstantin Othmer

Lerer Hippeau Ventures

Lisa Gansky

Mark Pincus

Martin Roscheisen

Robert Goldberg

SV Angel

Spring Ventures

Thomas Verghese

Series A - $10,000,000

Fenox Venture Capital

GV

Huron River Ventures

Lerer Hippeau Ventures

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Series B - $10,000,000

Avalon Ventures

Correlation Ventures

SGVC

SoftBank

Tekton Ventures

Union Square Ventures

Series C - $15,000,000

Avalon Ventures

Richard Branson

Union Square Ventures