“We wrote the check because DVDPlay had the best software stack,” recalls a former Voyager associate (speaking anonymously). “Redbox machines required a dedicated phone line. DVDPlay used cellular modems. That was the edge.”
The funding had bought growth, but not profitability. By 2008, the financial crisis was freezing VC wallets. Redbox, backed by McDonald’s real estate and Coinstar’s cash flow, dropped rental prices to $0.50 for a limited time. DVDPlay’s average revenue per kiosk fell from $1,100/month to $600/month. dvdplay funding
In the annals of forgotten tech, few artifacts feel as abruptly obsolete as the DVD rental kiosk. But in 2005, as Netflix was still a mail-order service and streaming was a buffering punchline, the battle for the $7 billion home-video market moved to the parking lots of America. Two names emerged: Redbox, backed by the deep pockets of Coinstar and McDonald’s, and DVDPlay, a plucky, privately held competitor from Portland, Oregon. “We wrote the check because DVDPlay had the
“We didn’t know what venture capital was,” Mark Phillips told a local business journal in 2007. “We just knew that Blockbuster had late fees, and people hated them.” That was the edge