Feniks Inc., a new Seattle, Wash., food tech start-up, announced that it has acquired the assets from Outerwall's Rubi coffee kiosk business. The deal includes the Rubi brand name, technology and associated intellectual property, along with the completed inventory of Rubi coffee kiosks. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Feniks Inc. was founded earlier this year by Jim Craig, Travis Pierce and Doug Coppenbarger -- three former leaders of the Rubi kiosk product team at Outerwall. Feniks has raised $1.5 million in seed funding to re-launch the Rubi Micro-Café concept over the next two months and will work closely with vending operators around the country to deploy Rubi in retail stores, college campuses, hospitals and workplaces.
In addition, Feniks announced the hire of Joel Espelien as vice president corporate development and general counsel. Espelien is a well-known member of the Seattle start-up community serving as executive at PacketVideo, board member at IQ Engines (acquired by Yahoo) and 640 Labs, as well as being an active angel investor.
"Our work on the Rubi Micro-Café over the past few years has successfully demonstrated the demand for a next generation coffee kiosk that delivers a premium quality product with an elevated user experience," said CEO Jim Craig in a prepared statement. "With consumers spending over $18 billion each year on coffee away from home, we are incredibly excited to continue developing the Rubi platform and bringing great coffee to new places where it is currently hard to find."
