• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechOn-Demand

‘Uber For Kids’ Is Shutting Down After Failing to Get More Funding

By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 14, 2016, 8:07 PM ET
Photo Courtesy: Getty

Shuddle, a Bay Area startup that ferried children to school and after-school activities, is shutting down.

The company, founded in 2014, said on Thursday that would cease operations this week after failing to raise more funding to support itself, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle and later confirmed to Fortune by the company.

“We worked hard with our existing investors to find new financial resources that would help us continue to grow. But, we could not raise the funding required to continue operations,” the company said in a statement to Fortune.

Shuddle, often referred to an “Uber for kids,” raised $12.2 million in venture capital. It is just the latest so-called “on-demand” service, once a hot niche in Silicon Valley, to shut its doors.

Last year, home cleaning service Homejoy and virtual assistant startup Zirtual shut down, for example. Parking startups Vatler and Carbon have also closed their doors recently.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

To use Shuddle, parents booked a ride by noon the day before they needed it and could track their child’s driver and ride in real-time through the mobile app. Shuddle provided both private rides as well as kiddie carpools.

Unlike ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber, Shuddle and its competitors like HopSkipDrive in Los Angeles and Zum and Kango in the Bay Area all performed driver background checks and training they claim are on par with those of child care providers.

But like these classic car services, they have to keep increasing—and balancing—customer demand and driver supply to make the math work. In the case of Shuddle, a single ride’s average price was $24, according a Shuddle spokeswoman.

 

According to the company, it has completed 65,000 rides during its operations, and its business grew by 50% in the last six months. But it wasn’t enough.

In recent months, Shuddle had undergone a management shuffle. Founder and former CEO Nick Allen ceded the reins to current Shuddle CEO Doug Aley in November.

Shuddle will stop providing rides on Friday.

About the Author
By Kia Kokalitcheva
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
North America
'I meant what I said in Davos': Carney says he really is planning a Canada split with the U.S. along with 12 new trade deals
By Rob Gillies and The Associated PressJanuary 28, 2026
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
Fortune 500 CEOs are no longer giving employees an A for effort. Now they want proof of impact
By Claire ZillmanJanuary 28, 2026
22 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Commentary
Yes, you're getting a bigger tax refund. Your kids won't thank you for the $3 trillion it's adding to the deficit
By Daniel BunnJanuary 26, 2026
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Real Estate
Ryan Serhant thinks the American Dream was just a 'slogan created by banks,' but it was really about FDR, the Great Depression, and an economic crisis
By Sydney Lake and Nick LichtenbergJanuary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, January 27, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJanuary 27, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
As AI wipes out desk jobs, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser says the company is training 175,000 employees to ‘reinvent themselves’ before their roles change forever
By Emma BurleighJanuary 27, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

Big TechTesla
Tesla reveals $2 billion investment in Elon Musk’s xAI and officially kills the Model S and Model X
By Jessica MathewsJanuary 28, 2026
4 hours ago
Bald man with glasses and black shirt.
Big TechFortune 500
Microsoft demand backlog doubles to $625 billion thanks to OpenAI, but hefty spending and slower revenue growth spook investors
By Amanda GerutJanuary 28, 2026
5 hours ago
MagazineSamsung
How Samsung’s first-ever chief design officer is reinventing the electronics giant for the AI age
By Nicholas GordonJanuary 28, 2026
7 hours ago
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc
AIMeta
Meta beats on Q4 revenue as Mark Zuckerberg predicts a ‘major AI acceleration’ in 2026—with up to $135 billion in capex spending to match
By Sharon GoldmanJanuary 28, 2026
8 hours ago
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott
InvestingServiceNow
ServiceNow stock falls despite earnings beat as CEO Bill McDermott tries to get investors to stop thinking of it as a SaaS company
By Jeremy KahnJanuary 28, 2026
9 hours ago
people with masks over their faces sit cross-legged, crowded next to each other
CryptoCryptocurrency
Judge hits Chinese crypto scammer who helped swindle $37 million from U.S. victims with 46-month sentence
By Carlos GarciaJanuary 28, 2026
10 hours ago