Despite the July 2019 ‘Vugo ruling’ [1] and the fact that others in the space are flailing, Firefly have repeatedly already burnt through almost USD 40 million (and look where they are), Florida Funders is leading a Series A investment round for Minneapolis-based startup Vugo [2], which they hope will raise them a minimum of USD 850,000.
First of all we use the term ‘startup’ loosely, as they have been around since at least 2015 [3] and secondly, does no-one at these investment firms ever do any basic due diligence?
Ryan Whittemore, chief investment officer at Florida Funders, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal [4] “We talked to Vugo [for many years], who have a partnership with Disney. It made a lot of sense, but the kicker has been new legislation that’s been favorable to ridesharing in Florida was passed, so it’s a number of factors that all came together.“.
The article keeps mentioning a partnership they have with Disney [4] but the industry experts we spoke to have never heard of it and don’t know what it is or what it means.
We’ve written before on ‘Why Ride Share Advertising Services Won’t Work [5]‘, even if the rumour that Vugo are looking to expanding in to digital tops as well (as well as their in-vehicle screens) is not true, that fundraising won’t be nearly enough to keeping them giving for even half a year.
The announcement said that the investment, coupled with a recent change in Florida legislation, has also enticed Vugo to move its headquarters to Florida, we quote “The company currently works with Disney and is considering Tampa, Orlando and Miami for a new home base”.