A multi-year lawsuit over unfair competition between college social app Fizz and rival Sidechat has taken an interesting turn. In a new filing, Fizz accuses Jerry Lu, an investor at venture capital firm Marvelon, of meeting with Fizz under the guise of exploring a potential investment, but then reversing Fizz and sharing nonpublic information about him in a rival side chat.
The new allegations raise questions about the role venture capitalists play in the competitive startup market, as founders routinely share sensitive business information during fundraising and trust investors not to leak that information to competitors. Founders say some VCs continue to request updates from the startups they take over.
Image credit: Fizz
Fizz and Sidechat are both in the same business: anonymous online forums and apps where college students can network and gossip. As a result, competition for student attention is fierce. However, not all universities believe that apps provide value to students. The UNC System has banned the app from campuses across North Carolina due to bullying and abusive behavior taking place on the anonymous social platform. For example, on Fizz, students can simply post a person's name and invite their peers to publicly comment on that person. )
Fizz originally sued SideChat in 2023, alleging various misconduct, including attempting to prevent the launch of the service on various college campuses, spreading false rumors that hackers were accessing Fizz's data, submitting false spam reports to Instagram, and paying students to remove the Fizz app.
Mr. Lu was not named in the original complaint because his involvement was not known at the time.
Fizz said in its complaint that it first learned about Lu's involvement through the legal discovery process, which revealed Lu's role in obtaining Fizz's confidential information and transmitting it to Flower Avenue, the owner of SideChat (which also acquired the Yik Yak app in 2023).
Fizz's filing also alleges that Lou continued to act as a conduit, passing information about Fizz's fundraising activities and other matters into side chats.
Image credit: Fizz (screenshot)
Text screenshots attached to the complaint show Lu sharing notes with Flower after meeting with Fiz in March 2022, the complaint alleges. During that meeting, Fizz founders Teddy Solomon and Ashton Cofer shared nonpublic information about Fizz's “business strategy, growth plans, campus launch strategy, user metrics, ambassador program, fundraising efforts, and product roadmap,” the complaint states.
Lu went on to invest in Sidechat's second seed round in October 2023, according to PitchBook data. However, Fiz claims that Lu was in talks with SideChat in 2022.
In addition, Fizz alleges that Jack Burlinson, an acquaintance of the founder and Lou, shared confidential information with Lou, including Fizz's investor materials and fall investor briefs, which Lou passed directly to the side chat.
Lu and Maveron did not respond to requests for comment. Fiz declined to comment.
Kyle Venn, CEO of social media platforms Yik Yak and Sidechat, shared the following comments with TechCrunch via email:
“These are allegations, not court findings. We deny any wrongdoing and will address this through the legal process. The alleged events occurred before the current Side Chat team acquired the business in 2025 and took over the litigation. No one on the current operations team is involved. We are currently focused on building a great product rather than litigating other apps.”
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