SEATTLE, WA – Feniks Inc., a new Seattle food tech start-up, yesterday announced 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 $1.5m 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 VP 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,” notes CEO Jim Craig.
“With consumers spending over $18B 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.”
About Rubi
The Rubi Micro-Café was created to help put an end to the world’s bad coffee.
By grinding whole beans and brewing each cup on demand using French Press technology and precise temperature control, Rubi delivers a delicious café-quality coffee drink every single time.
With a large tablet-style interactive touchscreen, customers can order, pay, and customize each cup exactly the way they like it.
Advanced wireless remote telemetry provides real time data and alerts to optimize service intervals, reduce operating costs and increase total uptime.
About Feniks Inc.
Feniks Inc. is a Seattle-based startup and owner of the Rubi Micro-Café concept. Feniks was founded in 2014 by the team that developed and launched Rubi at Outerwall, along with help from technology entrepreneur, Joel Espelien.
Team members include Jim Craig, CEO. Travis Pierce, VP of Product Development and Operations, and Doug Coppenbarger, VP of Technical Services and Customer Support. Espelien will serve as general counsel and VP of corporate development.
