ATEL Ventures Inc. (“ATEL”) is proud to announce that ecoATM, an ATEL
Growth Capital portfolio company, has been acquired for approximately $350
million in cash. Outerwall (NASDAQ: OUTR), owner of Redbox DVD kiosks and
Coinstar machines, has agreed to purchase ecoATM with the takeover having
closed in late July. As an early venture lender to ecoATM, the ATEL Funds
were provided warrants that were exercisable into nearly 70,000 shares of
ecoATM stock.”We are pleased with the outcome of our investment in ecoATM,” said Steve
Rea, Executive Vice President at ATEL. “Of the 175 million mobile devices
that are sold each year in the United States, only 20% are collected and
recycled. This provides a large and untapped market for ecoATM and
Outerwall to capitalize on. Our investment in ecoATM has been financially
and environmentally beneficial and represents ATEL’s Growth Capital
philosophy of financing tomorrow’s technologies – today.”ecoATM, headquartered in San Diego, California, is the first company to
create an automated self-serve kiosk system to buy back used phones,
tablets or MP3 players for cash. ecoATM uses patented protected technology,
advanced machine vision, electronic diagnostics, and artificial
intelligence to evaluate electronics. The company provides a convenient
trade-in solution that pays consumers immediately in cash and connects
consumers real-time to the worldwide secondary markets ensuring the best
possible pricing. Further it incorporates features that validate sellers’
identities which can deter the sale of stolen phones, an issue often raised
by law enforcement.Outerwall, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, has more than 20 years of
experience creating some of the most profitable spaces for their retail
partners. The company has brought consumers Redbox entertainment, Coinstar
money services and Rubi coffee kiosks. Outerwall is leading the next
generation of automated retail and paving the way for inventive, scalable
businesses. Outerwall kiosks are in neighborhood grocery stores, drug
stores, mass merchants and other retail locations in the United States,
Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.