Student Electronics Recycling Entrepreneurs ‘Graduate’ from Start-up Status into New Space

Nov. 30, 2009 - PRLog -- New Haven, Conn.  –  The Economic Development Corporation (EDC) of New Haven today announced that YouRenew.com, a fast-growing electronics recycling company founded by two Yale University undergraduate students, has signed a lease for 3,500 square feet of office space at 25 Science Park, part of  the city’s life science and technology hub .  It will move there from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) Student Venture Incubator. YEI is a university initiative created to help Yale students start scalable ventures.  

“YouRenew is a perfect example of the innovation that has defined business growth in New Haven throughout the City’s history,” said Michele Whelley, CEO of the EDC.  “Its founders saw an unfilled market need and created a company to address it.  The response has been dramatic and we have worked with both YouRenew and YEI to both provide the company support and find the right space to accommodate its ongoing expansion.”

YouRenew, founded during YEI’s Summer Fellowship Program, has experienced explosive growth as demand for its services has expanded.  In the last few months, the company’s staff has grown from its two founders to 14 full-time employees, including recent college graduates and a CEO recruited from 1800-Flowers. The company has processed tens of thousands of electronic devices since its inception less than a year and a half ago. Electronics waste is the largest, fastest-growing waste stream in the U.S. and statistics show that recycling has not slowed its growth.

“Less than 10 percent of unwanted devices are recycled—so our biggest competition is the trashcan,” said co-founder Bob Casey, 22, who – like his partner Rich Littlehale, 23 – took a short-term leave from Yale to launch the business.  “The support we’ve received from Yale and the EDC has helped us grow our business quickly and meet the demand for our services.“

YouRenew pays consumers for their unused electronics, including laptops, cell phones, mp3 players and other gadgets.  The company’s web site (www.yourenew.com) allows consumers to determine the value of their devices, arrange for them to be shipped to the company and contract for a financial reward in many cases. The company’s average transaction is around $100, and includes three or four devices.  The company recycles products to recapture their value in three ways:
•   It removes data from devices that are in good condition, then resells them online.
•   It sends repairable electronics to refurbishers and wholesalers who make needed repairs and resell the products.
•   It sends unusable devices to responsible, domestic recyclers who adhere to the highest environmental standards, dismantle the devices and sell the component parts.
In response to requests from several electronics companies, YouRenew is currently developing large-scale programs that will allow these companies to use YouRenew as their recycling service.  The scale of these new programs is one thing driving YouRenew’s demand for more space.
The company joins a stable of entrepreneurial businesses operating in Science Park.

“YouRenew is moving into a community of entrepreneurs in technology and life science businesses now at Science Park who are revolutionizing their fields ,” said David Silverstone, President of the Board of Directors of Science Park and Chairman of the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven.  “YouRenew is a fresh example of the commercial innovation taking place in New Haven today, fostered by an ecosystem of entrepreneurship that’s rooted in Yale University.”

The company is one of many student businesses to emerge from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI).  YEI helped YouRenew attract both venture and angel funding, and assisted the student founders to recruit management talent from New Haven and New York City.

“Yale works closely with faculty to bring much of their research into the marketplace. Recently, we’ve expanded our efforts to offer students an outlet for their commercializing creativity as well,” said Jim Boyle, Director of YEI.  “By providing resources and connecting our students to an ever-growing network of local entrepreneurs, corporate partners, and Yale alumni for guidance and mentorship, we can help our students launch innovative and successful enterprises – even in the most challenging economy.”

About YouRenewYouRenew.com is the easiest, fastest and greenest way to turn old electronic devices into cash. The company is pioneering a field called “ReCommerce” — making it easier for people to get the most out of everything they buy and reduce waste going into landfills. YouRenew.com pays consumers for being good to the environment by recycling.  

About YEI
The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute was formed to help undergraduate and graduate Yale students start scalable new ventures.  As a complement to traditional academic programs which provide a conceptual understanding and related case studies of new venture formation, YEI helps students execute on their actual business plans. It bands together entrepreneurial students, select faculty and administrators with new venture experience, alumni from both industry and venture capital, and local established entrepreneurs.  YEI has supported the formation and growth of over 35 student-founded ventures in the last two years. Of those companies, 15 have raised a total of over $17 million of outside investment capital.

About EDC New Haven
The EDC of New Haven is a private-sector non-profit corporation whose mission is to attract and retain businesses.  The organization works to help companies operating in New Haven to find the support they need and promotes the community to businesses outside the City.

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The EDC of New Haven is a private-sector non-profit corporation whose mission is to attract and retain businesses. The organization works to help companies operating in New Haven to find the support they need and promotes the community to businesses outside the City.