Used cellphone recycler and reseller FlipSwap Inc. announced a new $14 million second round of funding, intended to spur continued partnership development and geographic expansion. The Los Angeles-based startup tapped RRE Ventures and NGEN Partners for the round, which follows one other investment of undisclosed size since FlipSwap was founded in 2005.
FlipSwap partners with cellphone sellers, including retailers, direct sellers and online marketers, offering rebates to consumers who trade in their old phones, often as they buy new ones. That provides an incentive for retailers to participate, since the rebates encourage customers to buy on the spot. The phones FlipSwap collects are re-sold, generating revenue, or recycled in "the most environmentally friendly methods currently available," according to the company's
Web site.
The startup competes with a few others, including Second Rotation Inc., which
raised $6 million from investors including Rockport Capital Partners and Venrock Associates in support of its
Gazelle.com site earlier this week, and
ReCellular Inc., in which Investor Growth Capital
invested $15 million in August.
-- Paul BonanosSee press release from FlipSwap
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