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"In my opinion: They are all teetering on the edge of extinction if (or when) Uber has to do the near unconscionable act and hit the button and launch – a down round." is everything wrong with the VC funding mentality.

Surely it would take the sheen off what has been a meteoric rise, but the hype cycle will continue to turn. Hopefully they can figure out the multitude of cultural problems if there is a harder reset.

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If the people with the money don't believe the hype it doesn't matter because they won't pour good money after bad. These people did not become wealthy by backing losers. What it means is they may be able to raise money in the short term but with worse deals than they have been getting, and in the medium to long term even that will start to dry up. How long can they burn cash to make a market that they can exploit. They may put other ride sharing companies out of business but small taxi firms will pop back up again so they will never be able to monopolise the market such that they can start setting a price that would result in a good return for investors.

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