Startup back in business with boost from investors
Denver startup Revolar, which abruptly shut down last month, is back in business after two local investment firms purchased the assets of the personal safety device maker.
Empowerment Capital and Volante Capital Advisors teamed up to buy Revolar’s intellectual property, products and hardware. The new owners plan to keep Revolar’s operations in Denver, where co-founders Jacqueline Ros and Andrea Perdomo are staying on as president and chief operating officer, respectively.
“We were impressed by the company when we met them a few months ago,” said Steven Bachar, co-founder of Empowerment Capital and a lawyer. “We liked the mission, we liked the founding team. We thought they were in a position to make a lot of money and do a lot of good. When they became available for purchase, we were very happy to be the winning bidder.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Bachar added that Revolar hopes to rehire some employees who were let go when the office shut down in October. The company also will get a new board as it seeks to expand its market of personal safety devices that can send a text alert to friends and family if the user is in trouble.
Revolar became a local tech darling partly because of its story: Ros, a former teacher, was motivated to create a panic button after her sister was assaulted twice as a teenager. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Revolar raised $3 million from investors, which included The Foundry Group in Boulder. The company was picked by Target last year for its inaugural Target Techstars accelerator.
But a supply issue in recent months made Revolar stumble and ultimately file for a type of bankruptcy called assignment for the benefit of creditors.
Its filing said the company was unable to pay its debts.
“The company ran into a supply chain issue that has been favorably resolved,” said Bachar, whose firm looks for female-founded early-stage companies that make money and do good in the world. Other investments include the Level Market, a Golden-based global marketplace for the disaster relief industry, and iBirth, an app that helps hospitals provide prenatal and post-
services.
He added that Revolar was also successful at defending its patent in an in- fringement lawsuit, which encouraged him to buy the company.
The deal was completed Friday, and the company began selling its product on its website again at 5 p.m.
“Our name Revolar means to take flight again and was an ode to survivors and their strength for picking themselves back up and continuing to fight,” Ros said in an email. “Even I did not realize how literal that name would be! Honestly, both Andrea and myself are over the moon that we get to continue to serve our Revolar community. I cannot say it enough. Through all the tough times of a business, their support and love for our product has kept me going.”