Interesting to see Bay Area ride-sharing startup SideCar this morning announce $10 million in new VC funding, in the wake of a report that the company was among those receiving cease-and-desist letters from state regulators.
Worth noting, however, that the letters actually came back in August, and that Sidecar has continued to operate (as have other ride-sharing companies that got similar letters).
Founder and CEO Sunil Paul tells me that regulatory concerns were raised consistently by VCs during fundraising, including by ultimate backers Google Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners, but that he’s convinced his company doesn’t fall afoul of current rules. Paul does acknowledge, however, that such regulations will need to be revisited in order to acknowledge the existence of both ride-sharing companies and services like Uber. And that could change everything:
“Yes, I’m concerned that the new rules could be written in a way that hurts us,” Paul says. “That’s why I think this process needs to be public, and as transparent as possible.”
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