SAN FRANCISCO -- InnoVentry, which abruptly shut down its operations on Sept. 21, is liquidating its assets with the proceeds to go to Wells Fargo, its biggest creditor.
A team of about two dozen InnoVentry employees is still in place to assist with the liquidation, according to acting Chief Executive Officer Bruce Schroeder.
Schroeder wasn't sure if InnoVentry's assets, including about 1,500 of advanced function RPM machines, would be sold as a package or split up. "Our main objective right now is to maximize value for the investors," he said.
InnoVentry had deployed about 1,000 of the RPM machines at retail locations in 24 states, including Kroger, Circle K and Albertson's stores. The terminals offered check cashing in addition to standard ATM functionality. InnoVentry owned the terminals, paid the costs of running the program and shared revenues with retailers.
ATM manufacturer Diebold, which produced the RPM machines for InnoVentry and had a service contract to maintain them, announced it would take a $29 million pre-tax charge in 2001's third quarter related to InnoVentry's closure. The charge includes Diebold's equity investment and certain receivables, according to a Diebold statement.
While published reports indicated that InnoVentry had raised more than $400 million in funding, including $253 million in February provided largely by Capital One and Wells Fargo, Schroeder said those amounts were "a little overstated."
Noting that much of the funding consisted of warrants that went unexercised, he said, "There wasn't as much there as it appeared on paper."
InnoVentry, then known as Mr. Payroll, was founded in 1998 as a joint venture of Wells Fargo and Cash America International.
