College social app Fizz has expanded its ongoing lawsuit against rival Sidechat, alleging in a July 2026 filing that venture capitalist Jerry Lu of Maveron met with Fizz under the pretense of a potential investment and then passed the startup’s confidential information to Sidechat.
According to the complaint, Fizz founders Teddy Solomon and Ashton Cofer met with Lu in March 2022 and shared non-public details about the company’s “business strategy, growth plans, campus-launch playbook, user metrics, ambassador program, fundraising efforts, and product roadmap.” A screenshot of text attached to the filing allegedly shows Lu sharing notes from that meeting with Sidechat’s parent company, Flower Ave Inc. Fizz also claims that Jack Burlinson, an acquaintance of both the founders and Lu, shared confidential materials — including Fizz’s investor deck and Fall Summary — with Lu, who then forwarded them to Sidechat. Lu went on to invest in Sidechat’s second seed round in October 2023, per Pitchbook data.
Fizz originally sued Sidechat in 2023, alleging a range of competitive abuses including disrupting campus launches, spreading false rumors about data breaches, filing false spam reports to Instagram, and paying students to delete Fizz’s app. Lu was not named in the original complaint; Fizz says his involvement only came to light through the legal discovery process.
Both Fizz and Sidechat operate anonymous social forums aimed at college students, putting them in direct competition for users. Flower Ave Inc. also owns the Yik Yak app, which it acquired in 2023.
Kyle Venn, CEO of Yik Yak and Sidechat, denied wrongdoing in a statement to TechCrunch: “These are allegations, not court findings. The alleged events happened before the current Sidechat team acquired the business in 2025 and inherited the lawsuit. No one on today’s operating team was involved.” Requests for comment sent to Lu and Maveron were not returned.
The case could raise broader questions about how venture capitalists handle confidential information shared during fundraising meetings, a process that routinely requires founders to disclose sensitive business details to prospective investors.
Source: TechCrunch