Xconomy Article: Retrace, a Xinova Spinout, Provides Data to Improve E-Waste Recycling
PRESS RELEASE
SEATTLE, Washington – December 6, 2016 – The first global wholesale marketplace and pricing analytics platform for the resale of cell phones has launched, after a successful incubation period inside innovation company Xinova.
Retrace, a smartphone reselling and business analytics platform founded by Xinova in 2014, has been acquired by WaterStone Capital, a global investment fund.
WaterStone has combined the Retrace proprietary business insights platform with Chinese electronics reselling marketplace MiaoMiao Cloud (MMC) to create a global trading network for manufacturers, carriers, sales agents, brokers, MVNOs and small businesses dedicated to the reuse and resale of cell phones.
“Responsible, efficient recycling of electronics is a continuing challenge for manufacturers, and compliance with complex regulations needed a significant amount of time and cost to coordinate,” said Michael Rubel, Founder and CEO of Retrace. “Retrace represents the first time a global platform has been created to help solve this problem, empowering our customers with vital market data that enables them to be more profitable and more environmentally responsible. Xinova was instrumental in making this dream a reality.”
“We are proud to partner with Retrace in an effort to expand the reach and impact of this important reselling marketplace,” stated Xiang Liu, CEO of MiaoMiao Cloud. “This Global platform gives Members of the cell phone industry direct access to a worldwide buyer network, real-time global pricing data and emerging trends to locate the best market for their products.”
The company’s B2B marketplace and analytics platform is designed to connect refurbished smartphones with the populations that most need them, while enabling the mobile phone industry to be more efficient, profitable and environmentally responsible.
“With the same devices we throw away, people around the globe can gain access to internet, healthcare, weather information, educational resources and banking,” Chris Somogyi, Executive Vice President of Investments at Xinova. “Xinova is thrilled with Retrace’s success, which has the power to drive real social and economic change in areas that will benefit most from these technologies.”
Retrace is the latest company that Xinova successfully incubated and spun out while it was known as Invention Development Fund (IDF). The other spin outs include companies such as Coffee Flour, which produces a gluten-free nutritional flour from the byproduct of coffee production, and QSense, a company that invented and built an air-quality monitor and data-sharing platform that provides real-time, location-specific information.
Through its best-in-class global network of more than 10,000 multidisciplinary experts focused on the creation and deployment of innovation, Xinova operates with a mission and unique methodology geared towards enabling R&D in a climate where long-term innovation has become increasingly difficult. Comprised of scientists, inventors, researchers as well as business development experts, policy makers, investors and marketers, Xinova’s network helps companies to think beyond their organizational confines and solve their biggest challenges.
About Xinova
Xinova partners with customers and inventors to think beyond the confines of their organization and solve big problems. Operating in nine counties worldwide, Xinova is comprised of more than 80 experts, including PhDs, product and commercialization experts, business analysts, and intellectual property experts. At its foundation, Xinova manages its Innovation Network, a community of over 10,000 multidisciplinary experts from more than 30 countries, residing at more than 100 companies, institutions, and universities around the world. With a client base representing global Fortune 500 companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as start-ups, the Xinova portfolio of innovations and incubated spinouts cover a wide range of technology sectors, including food and beverage science, agriculture, manufacturing, electronics, and biotech.
For more information about Xinova, please see Xinova.com.
About Retrace Global
Retrace is a software company who provides an online marketplace and in-depth analytics to track market trends in the cell phone industry. We are based in Seattle, and have offices in Vietnam, the Netherlands, South Africa and China to provide World-class sales support, business tools and pricing insights so that our Customers increase profitability and decrease business risk.
For more information about Retrace please see retracecorp.com.
About WaterStone Capital
WaterStone Capital is an international investment firm providing seed, pre-A and A-round venture capital to early to mid-stage technology-based companies. WaterStone Capital has positioned its investment strategies and core competence around the concept of “Small Company Big Technology” (SCBT).
For more information about WaterStone Capital please see waterstoneseattle.com.
About MiaoMiao Cloud (MMC)
MiaoMiao Cloud (MMC) is the first Payment Service Provider (PSP) in China with a core business focusing on serving offline enterprises to provide them with mobile internet solutions on network platforms. Unlike traditional merchandise-pay-to-user business models, MiaoMiao provides its customers a total Internet+ service to open up channels between online payment and offline operations. Partnering with MiaoMiao Cloud, enterprises in traditional industries are provided with integrated internet solutions such as Online to Offline Commerce (O2O), Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM), Mobile Commerce (m-Commerce) and Light App (LAPP) development, etc.
For more information about MiaoMiao Cloud (MMC), please see miaomiaocloud.com.
Contact:
Dana Whitney
Bite (for Xinova)
415.359.7006