Sidecar couldn't keep pace with rivals Uber and Lyft in the app-based ride-hailing business and the company announced it was shutting down its operations.
The San Francisco startup could never emerge from the shadows of Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft as it transported people and then goods through its drivers' network, said
Market Watch.com.
Bloomberg Business said Sidecar was one of the pioneers of the ride-sharing concept.
"I'm extremely proud of our team and all that we've accomplished," co-founder and chief executive Sunil Paul said in a
blog post announcing Sidecar's end on Tuesday. "We are the innovation leader in ride sharing despite a significant capital disadvantage, continually rolling out new products that set the bar for others to follow."
Paul said despite the end of Sidecar he believed that app-based ride-hailing "reinvented transportation."
"Shutting down the Sidecar service is a disappointment for our team and our fans," Paul said. "The impact of our work, however, will be felt for generations to come. We changed transportation law, and created a new mode of transportation that has transformed cities and made life easier and better for millions of people."
According to
CrunchBase.com, Sidecar was founded in February 2012 and connected riders with drivers in their personal vehicles through an app. It also offered a discounted instant carpooling app and a delivery service that combined people and packages on the same route.
Sidecar received a $10 million in funding from an unknown investor in February 2014 and another $15 million from Avalon Ventures in September 2014, but it wasn't enough to keep the business going.
"They're competing with very heavily funded companies, and they didn't have the same pull with drivers that these other companies might have," said Nikhil Krishnan, a technology analyst at CB Insights, told Bloomberg Business. "Even when it pivoted to transporting goods, it still had to compete with Postmates, and even Uber is transporting goods."
Uber was looking for $2.1 billion in a financing round that would value its business at $62.5 billion. Lyft was also searching to raise $500 million, Bloomberg reported.
Related Stories: