Flywheel, the app-enabled cab hailing startup and Uber rival, announced Thursday that it had raised $12 million in Series C funding.

The timing couldn't be better for the company's new CEO, Rakesh Mathur, who isn't shy about his criticisms of Uber, a company with recent actions that he calls "almost NSA-like."

"Travis has used the word 'asshole' to describe the taxi industry," Mathur said during an interview with Mashable, referring to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. "Well, he uses the word and he acts in that fashion and beyond that he clearly created an army of mini assholes."

The company, which first launched in 2010 under the name Cabulous, connects users with taxis in California, Washington, Florida and Oklahoma via the Flywheel app. The functionality is similar to that of Uber, Lyft or other ride-sharing services: All payments are handled within the app and users are able to rate the drivers at the end of a ride.

What sets Flywheel apart from competitors like Uber and Lyft, Mathur says, is its reliance on licensed taxi drivers. This creates a better experience for users, who get the advantage of reliably knowledgeable drivers who undergo strict background checks. But it's also a win for the business side as the company doesn't have to work to recruit and train new drivers.

Mathur hopes their extensive experience in San Francisco will help the company expand to more cities across the country. The company is headquartered just south of San Francisco in Redwood City; the CEO estimates that 80% to 85% of the city's taxis are equipped with Flywheel.

A big part of the reason taxis companies have been so easily supplanted by companies like Uber and Lyft, Mathur added, is because the taxi industry has been fragmented by the individual cab companies. Taxi fleets often don't have their own apps or those that do are not user friendly and don't include taxis from multiple companies.

"What we've noticed in San Francisco is people have Uber, Lyft, Flywheel and whichever delivers a ride the fastest is the one that gets used," Mathur said. "You've got to prove yourself every time."

But with more and more souring on Uber, that task may be just a little easier.