TheFunded.com allows entrepreneurs to express their opinions and views of venture capitalists and venture capital companies. TheFunded recently unleashed a list of venture capital firms that were banned from the leaderboards.
The top 13 suspiscious reviews were
1. Alsop Louie Partners,
2. Bay Partners,
3. Benchmark Capital,
4. Clearstore Venture Partners,
5. DFJ Mercury,
6. Flybridge Capital Partners,
7. GrandBanks Capital,
8. Greenhill SAVP,
9. Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers,
10. Milestone Venture Partners,
11. Partech International,
12. US Venture Partners (USVP),
13. VantagePoint Venture Partners
Adeo Ressi, founder of TheFunded said that the reasons for VCs to be added to the list is because of threatening TheFunded, pressuring CEOs to write positive reviews about their VC companies, and failing to make newer investments.
Companies on TheFunded’s blacklist will remain in the database but will be flagged. Firsts that are on the list for not investing recently can submit proof of investment within the last 4 weeks.
The Funded is a website where users can anonymously post reviews on venture capitalists. EDF Ventures, an Ann Arbor, Michigan based venture capitalist firm was not amused with their reviews so they decided to sue an anonymous user that claims that EDF was to be avoided unless you were “desparate.” Since the identity of that user is unknown, the lawsuit was filed against “John Doe.”
Adeo Ressi recently made a video of himself delivering subpoena documents to McDonough Holland & Allen, the law firm that represents EDF. ”The Funded here will be victorious I’m sure, protecting the anonymity of our members,” stated Ressi in the video.
Below is the video of Ressi delivering the documents:
EDF Ventures is a VC firm based in Ann Arbor, MI. TheFunded.com is a startup company that allows startup founders to leave reviews on VCs that they have dealt with in the past. And EDF Ventures has several negative reviews. One particular comment left on TheFunded.com states that EDF is “to be avoided unless you are desperate.” Now EDF has sent a subpoena to TheFunded.com to find out who that commenter is.
TheFunded.com may have a hard time figuring out who that commenter is because the company does not store IP addresses, e-mail addresses, or other personal information.
This isn’t the first time that a company has taken legal action against TheFunded. A debt firm called Hercules tried using the Communications Decency Act against the company, but TheFunded stated that they are not liable for comments made by third parties. Hercules then dropped the lawsuit.
Websites where users can leave anonymous comments about companies and teachers have been existing for years. RateMyProfessors.com is an example of where anonymous comments can be made about university professors. I haven’t heard about any cases where these teachers try to subpoena commenters on RateMyProfessor. And the comments left on that site are much more offensive. EDF’s actions are quite rare.
Below is a copy of the subpoena that I found via VentureBeat:
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