Former CEOs of Sprint PCS, RadioShack Build At-Scale Wireless Device Collection Model to Bridge Environmental and Digital Divide

Irving, Texas – December 20, 2011 – eRecyclingCorps, a partner to global wireless carriers and retailers in the management of wireless e-waste as an asset, raised $35 million in a fundraising round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The investment marks yet another milestone for eRecyclingCorps (ERC), which already counts Sprint and Verizon among the many customers of its novel “instant in-store credit” offering. Seeing tremendous potential in a market where more than 130 million mobile devices are retired each year in the United States alone, ERC launched in 2009 with original investments from OpenAir Equity Partners and SJF Ventures to help carriers and subscribers recapture a growing portion of the residual value of wireless devices no longer used by subscribers. As the only provider of carrier grade, comprehensive incentivized device trade-in and recycling programs, ERC continues to win carriers by helping them overcome logistics and execution barriers to entry, powered by an instant in-store credit solution.

Co-founded by former CEO of RadioShack, David Edmondson, and Ron LeMay, former CEO of Sprint PCS and current Managing Director of OpenAir Equity Partners, ERC’s initial model centers around a proprietary web-based platform that integrates directly into the point-of-sale system at carrier retail stores, where 60 percent of all U.S. wireless devices are sold. The company has grown to completing more than 2.5 million device trades annually since its inception in 2009.

“The success of eRecyclingCorps among major carriers to date can be attributed to an executive team that knows the wireless and retail industries inside and out,” said Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Partner, Michael Linse. “ERC’s leadership team and the track record of their business has made them the clear leader in this fast-growing industry.”

According to the EPA, 130 million wireless devices are retired each year in the U.S. alone, but only 10 percent are recycled. Recent Compass Intelligence Research has found that 58 percent of customers are most interested in receiving an instant credit and 68 percent of those want to trade-in their wireless device at a carrier store.

The Bridge Beyond Collection

Phase I of ERC’s overarching vision is to transform the blight of perceived “device obsolescence” into a sustainable and profitable model that provides economic incentives at every point of market entry. ERC fuels its “zero landfill” vision by extending the life of wireless devices through its business partners, recapturing, remanufacturing and redistributing renewed technology for consumer sales around the world. In turn, ERC maintains a strict chain of custody of its wireless devices throughout the renewal lifecycle. By making valuable renewed mobile technology affordable to consumers, especially in the developing world, ERC bridges what has become an environmental and digital divide problem with an economic solution, transforming the backend of the global wireless ecosystem.

“Kleiner Perkins has an impeccable track record for recognizing companies that provide transformational solutions.  Their investment and support validates the real market opportunity for wireless carriers to reclaim subsidies, improve customer retention and significantly reduce their downstream e-waste,” said David Edmondson, chief executive officer of ERC.  “As eRecyclingCorps expands to reach more carriers and retailers around the world, Kleiner Perkins’ global connections provide access to the strategic decision makers needed to realize our vision.”

About eRecyclingCorps

eRecyclingCorps (ERC) is transforming the global wireless marketplace with an instant, in-store credit platform that helps carriers, retailers, distributors and consumers realize opportunity and savings from renewed wireless devices. With a point-of-sale trade-in platform implementing large-scale programs for carriers and major retailers, ERC is establishing a vital market ecosystem for renewed mobile technology around the world. Founded by telecom and retail industry veterans, ERC defines industry best practices to safely and ethically reward, renew and reuse wireless devices and materials. ERC has grown to completing more than 2.5 million wireless device trades per year worldwide. For more information, please visit www.erecyclingcorps.com

Media Contact

Antenna Group for eRecyclingCorps

Katie Struble, 415-977-1928

erc@antennagroup.com

SJF Ventures is a leading practitioner of impact investing and has been named a pioneer fund of the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS). Through its first two funds, SJF Ventures has established a powerful platform for impact investing and developed a track record that is generating superior investment returns and strong positive impacts.

Responsibilities
The MBA Associate is an integral part of a small SJF team. SJF promotes a fast-paced, open door culture and depends on interns to participate in a variety of activities associated with a small, entrepreneurial growth equity fund. He/she will work directly with the SJF Managing Directors in Durham, NC, New York or San Francisco. Responsibilities will include:
• Assisting the SJF team in the venture capital investment process. Specifically, the MBA Associate will: identify prospects; review business plans; perform due diligence on prospect companies; research industries and competitors; build financial models and conduct sensitivity analyses.
• Contributing to the development of necessary materials for raising SJF Ventures’ third fund.
• Helping with business strategy and exit events, as well as other general assistance activities, for SJF portfolio companies.
• Supporting other operational activities associated with SJF Ventures, including SJF Institute related work, marketing, fund administration and contact management

Desired Qualifications
• Rising second year graduate student in business
• 2-5 years work experience in banking, venture capital/private equity, entrepreneurial start-up or related field
• Strong financial analysis skills
• Strong interest in impact investing, cleantech or sustainability
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Self-starter, able to initiate projects and work independently

If interested, please e-mail a cover letter and resume to Cody Nystrom, cnystrom@sjfventures.com.  Please indicate the office location of interest and if you are available to work one day a week in the Fall and Spring of 2012.

Read more about what is setting SJF apart from other funds in the December 12, 2011 Dow Jones Venture Wire article.

CleanScapes to Merge with Recology

SJF Ventures II portfolio company, CleanScapes, based in Seattle, WA has entered into an agreement to merge with Recology, a San Francisco based waste and recycling service provider. Recology is an employee-owned company (ESOP) and reported revenue of $500 million in 2007, its last publicly reported figure.

SJF Ventures was the only institutional investor included in the 2008 $10 million Series A round.  CleanScapes raised this financing following the award of half of the City of Seattle’s collection contract and this was the only equity financing raised by the company. CleanScapes was named the Fastest Growing Environmental Serivces Company in America for the past two years in a row by the Inc 500.  The deal provides Recology access to a new state as well as a platform for expanding future operations.  The merger is still subject to approval by the Federal Trade Commission with the expectation of the deal closing by the end of the year.

See full article in the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Durham, NC and San Francisco, CA – July 11, 2011 – SJF Institute (SJFI) and Investors’ Circle (IC) today announced a strategic merger to more efficiently and effectively unleash the power of the impact investing marketplace. The merger will increase entrepreneurs’ access to capital, resources and networks, and will provide more opportunities for collaboration among impact investors.

Effective July 1, 2011, SJFI has taken over management and governance roles for Investors’ Circle. Bonny Moellenbrock, Executive Director of SJF Institute, has also assumed executive leadership of Investors’ Circle. Two of IC’s board members will join SJFI’s board, and Suzanne Biegel – IC’s Acting CEO and longtime IC member – will transition to serve on IC’s Advisory Board.

“IC and SJF Institute are completely mission aligned – we believe that entrepreneurship is key to addressing the world’s greatest social and environmental challenges and supporting the economy,” said Suzanne Biegel of Investors’ Circle. “Early stage impact investors are looking for investment-ready companies led by passionate, capable entrepreneurs, and to align their investments with their values.”

Since 1992 Investors’ Circle has built a network of over 150 angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations and family offices who are using private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy. During that time Investors’ Circle has facilitated the flow of over $145 million into more than 220 companies and small funds addressing social and environmental issues. Members in IC’s network of impact investors include some of the most experienced angels, early-stage and growth funds working to change the world.

SJF Institute was founded in 2001 as an independent nonprofit affiliate of SJF Ventures, a leading national impact investment venture capital fund. SJFI develops national and regional programs to connect, inspire and accelerate impact entrepreneurs and the fields that support them. SJFI has provided direct technical assistance to over 1500 impact entrepreneurs and has helped hundreds of others through its signature programs, including Getting Ready for Equity™, CleanLinks networking events, the SJF Cleantech Mentorship Program, the Green Jobs Award, and field-building reports such as Employees Matter: Maximizing Company Value Through Workforce Engagement. 

“We see a great deal of synergy in bringing together our entrepreneur and venture networks with the IC investment network,” said Bonny Moellenbrock of SJF Institute. “We want to build a vibrant capital marketplace to put more impact entrepreneurs on a clear path to strong financial growth and measurable social and environmental impact. We know this is the pipeline that later stage institutional investors are seeking. When this happens, everyone wins: the entrepreneurs, the investors, communities, and the planet.”

About SJF Institute. SJF Institute connects, inspires and accelerates impact entrepreneurs and the fields that support them. The Institute empowers companies that provide sustainable solutions and build workplaces where employees can grow and thrive.SJF Ventures is an affiliated venture capital fund focused on delivering superior financial returns through investments in high-growth positive impact companies.  For more information, see www.sjfinstitute.org.

About Investors Circle. Investors’ Circle is a network of over 150 angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations and family offices who are using private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy. For more information, see www.investorscircle.net.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Bonny Moellenbrock
(919) 530-1177, Ext. 402
bmoellenbrock@sjfinstitute.org                                                      

Anne Claire Broughton
(919) 530-1177, Ext. 403
acbroughton@sjfinstitute.org

NASHVILLE, TN,  – The Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM) named ServiceChannel as 2011 Vendor of the Year at an awards ceremony during its National Conference here on Monday night, April 4, 2011. According to PRSM, the award is determined each year by a vote of retailers and industry vendors who select the company that they feel best exemplifies excellence in the retail facilities maintenance profession.

ServiceChannel provides retail facilities managers with a technology platform across which they can identify, register, manage and even pay service contractors.  “ServiceChannel’s vision for more than 10 years has been to innovate this collaborative relationship, offering valuable tools to both sides of the facilities maintenance equation,” said PRSM Association Board President, Paul Walsh.

ServiceChannel was founded in 1999 as a response to the burgeoning need for retailers to have increased and immediate access to facilities service data. With a history in contractor management software, ServiceChannel evolved their products to the Internet offering retailers online access to a comprehensive database of service information and performance metrics.

Steven Gottfried, co-founder of ServiceChannel and a PRSM member for more than 10 years, was on hand to receive this year’s award. Mr. Gottfried remarked, “We are proud to receive this recognition from PRSM. The retail facilities maintenance industry is constantly evolving and we’re excited to be part of driving that process.” Mr. Gottfried was also elected to the PRSM board during the National Conference.

About ServiceChannel

ServiceChannel provides facility managers with a single platform to procure, manage and pay for facility maintenance services from their own network of contractors. By providing a real time, web-based view of service data across all trades, locations and contractors, facility managers use ServiceChannel at over 65,000 retail locations and restaurants to drive significant ROI for their organizations without relinquishing control to outsourcers or investing in new infrastructure. For more information, please visit www.servicechannel.com

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Media Contact:
Steve Keltz
KOSTAR*
212-253-2600

BALTIMORE and RADNOR, Pa. (February 14, 2011) – Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) and Community Energy Solar, LLC (Community Energy), today announced that Constellation, through its retail business, has agreed to acquire a 7.8 megawatt (MW) DC solar generation project from solar power developer, Community Energy. The electricity generated from the photovoltaic project in Vineland, New Jersey, will be sold to the Vineland Municipal Electric Utility under a 25-year power purchase agreement obtained by Community Energy and assigned to Constellation Energy. Constellation Energy will finance as well as build, own and operate the solar installation. The project will begin delivering emissions-free peak power this summer and will be among the three largest solar generation installations in New Jersey.

“Constellation Energy is pleased to include Vineland’s solar installation among our renewable energy projects serving customers in New Jersey,” said Michael D. Smith, senior vice president of green initiatives for Constellation Energy’s retail business. “This solar installation will help Vineland Municipal Electric Utility to provide stable utility costs for its users over the long term through a renewable energy source. By structuring solar projects as power purchase agreements, we can provide energy solutions that require no upfront capital from customers and provide them with fixed power costs that are less than projected market rates. ”

“The Vineland Project represents an exciting delivery on Community Energy’s solar development strategy. We were able to advance this solar project quickly based on a strong partnership with the City of Vineland, our development team and Constellation Energy. With the strength of Constellation Energy’s pre-construction purchase, we are able to deliver a win for all parties in a very competitive market, which is always our goal.” said R. Brent Alderfer, CEO of Community Energy.

The project will be ground-mounted on two sites in Vineland, N.J., totaling approximately 40 acres, including a 4.8 MW DC West Vineland and 3.0 MW DC North Vineland site. The project is expected to generate approximately 10 million kilowatt -hours of electricity per year. Generating the same amount of electricity using nonrenewable sources would result in the release of 7,182 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent emissions from 1,373 passenger vehicles annually.

About Community Energy Solar
Community Energy Solar is a venture-backed development affiliate of Community Energy Inc., a leading renewable energy developer since its founding in 1999. Community Energy Solar develops utility-scale solar projects nationally with offices in Pennsylvania and Colorado, and since 2009 has steadily expanded its solar project development team and pipeline. With long-established roots in renewable energy marketing, the Company has a proven track record of delivering renewable power generation ahead of the market on terms that work for its customers, utility partners and investors. For more information, visit www.CommunityEnergyInc.com.

About Constellation Energy
Constellation Energy (www.constellation.com) is a leading competitive supplier of power, natural gas and energy products and services for homes and businesses across the continental United States. It owns a diversified fleet of generating units, totaling approximately 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and is a leading advocate for clean, environmentally sustainable energy sources, such as solar power and nuclear energy. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland. A FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy had revenues of $14.3 billion in 2010.

Demand-Side Platform’s CEO to Lend Insights at OnMedia Conference

NEW YORK, NY – January 31, 2011 – For the third time in as many years, demand-side platform MediaMath has taken home a prestigious AlwaysOn prize – this time nabbing a second straight OnMedia 100 award. The OnMedia 100 is AlwaysOn’s annual list of the top 100 private digital media companies as determined by a panel of insiders, and MediaMath was recognized for creating the DSP segment and offering the industry’s largest scale and market-leading optimization.

MediaMath was chosen from more than 1000 contenders for its outstanding innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value and media buzz. AlwaysOn’s editorial team scoured the entrepreneurial community to identify leading companies that are disrupting marketing, branding, advertising and PR – paying special attention to those that specialize in analytics to drive marketing success.
“We uncovered a new trend that’s creating high-growth company opportunity – the emergence of Web analytics as a powerful tool to help advertisers ascertain the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ and better target their marketing and branding pitches,” said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn.

MediaMath’s industry-leading TerminalOne® provides the greatest scale and the most robust analytics to enable agencies and advertisers to effectively meet campaign goals.

“MediaMath has been hard at work transforming Madison Avenue and turning ‘mad men into math men’,” said MediaMath’s CEO, Joe Zawadzki. “We owe AlwaysOn a debt of gratitude not only for recognizing MediaMath and TerminalOne but for spurring discussion about the benefits of marketing technology as part of its fifth annual OnMedia conference.”

Zawadzki will speak on a panel titled Demystifying Online Advertising or How the Mathematicians and Rocket Scientists took over the Advertising Industry at the OnMedia show on February 1, 2011 at 9:35am. The panel will be moderated by Emily Steel of The Wall Street Journal. OnMedia runs from January 31 to February 2 at The Paley Center for Media in midtown Manhattan.

For more information on MediaMath’s panel at OnMedia please visit: http://alwayson.goingon.com/AOEvents/OnMedia/OnMedia-NYC-2011#day-block-2

Optoro specializes in direct-to-consumer remarketing of customer returns, overstock and refurbished product through multiple online channels using proprietary software and remarketing algorithms.  Comprehensive services include reporting & analytics, warehousing & fulfillment, inspection & testing, research & marketing and eco-friendly product disposal.  Optoro’s solution recovers significantly greater value than through a traditional liquidator and is scalable for clients ranging from mid-sized online retailers to large publicly-traded manufacturers.

“Optoro is quickly becoming a leading direct-to-consumer remarketing platform for the reverse supply chain,” said David Griest, Managing Director at SJF Ventures.  “With over $100 billion of distressed inventory annually in the U.S., Optoro is disintermediating the conventional middlemen and providing higher returns with fully transparent visibility and data analytics for its clients.”

“We are excited to be able to close out this capital raise with such strategic investors as SJF and QED”, said Tobin Moore, Optoro’s chief executive officer.  “With SJF’s experience in asset recovery and QED’s expertise in quantitative analysis and marketing algorithms, we will be able to provide our clients with a continually evolving solution superior to other marketing offerings.  This investment allows us to further improve our cutting edge online re-marketing platform, which strategically positions us to make a significant impact in the vast yet antiquated distressed inventory market, in drastic need of better options.”

About Optoro

Optoro was founded to offer a more efficient and cost effective solution for businesses in need of selling distressed consumer goods.  Unlike traditional liquidation models that funnel product through multiple layers of middlemen, Optoro has developed a remarketing technology to maximize recovery by connecting the distressed inventory of its clients directly to the millions of online end consumers who regularly seek out such product.  For more information, visit www.optoro.com.  

About SJF Ventures

SJF Ventures is a venture capital fund with offices in Durham, NC, New York and San Francisco.  SJF has a twelve-year successful record of assisting visionary and talented management teams in building industry-leading firms.  SJF provides strong expertise and networks in the cleantech, sustainability and technology enhanced services sectors, including particular experience in asset recovery/reuse and recycling.  For more information, visit www.sjfventures.com.