Rubicon Global

Rubicon Global
Private
Industry Waste Management
Recycling
Smart Cities
Founded 2008 (2008)
Founders Nate Morris, Marc Spiegel, Hank Dudgeon, Lane Moore
Headquarters Atlanta Plaza
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
  • Nate Morris (Founder, Chairman and CEO)
  • Phil Rodoni (CTO)
  • Chad Gold (CFO)
  • Michael Allegretti (SVP, Policy and Strategic Initiatives)
Website www.rubiconglobal.com

Rubicon Global is a cloud-based, full-service waste and recycling company focused on sustainability. It works with customers to find inefficiencies and cost-savings in their waste stream and to develop new and innovative ways to reduce, re-use and recycle waste.

Rubicon has developed a mobile application to provide on-demand trash pickup.[1] The company has been compared to tech startups like Uber and Airbnb.[2]

History

Rubicon was founded in Kentucky in 2008 by Nate Morris and Marc Spiegel who were friends from Eastern High School in Louisville.[3] Spiegel’s family had been in the waste and recycling hauling trade for more than a century; his knowledge piqued Morris’s interest in starting a company that could disrupt the waste industry. Morris maxed out personal credit cards and sold items on eBay to fund initial expenses, like a website and basic legal work.[4][5] Shortly thereafter, Hank Dudgeon joined as a co-founder.

Rubicon's name comes from the idiom “Crossing the Rubicon”, which means to pass a point of no return and refers to Julius Caesar’s army’s crossing of the Rubicon River in 49 BC.[6] Morris has called Caesar's river crossing “a fantastic story of disruption.”[3]

Funding

In 2010, Rubicon received early seed money from QuarterMoore, an Atlanta-based private investment firm. QuarterMoore principal Lane Moore joined Rubicon as a co-founder.[7]

In the summer of 2012, Rubicon received $5 million in its first financing round. Investors included Rotunda Capital Partners, Richmond Global, C.M. “Bill” Gatton and Joel Moxley.[8]

In January 2015, Rubicon raised $30 million in a second round of financing. Investors included Auren Hoffman, Barry Sternlicht, Brad M. Kelley, Chris T. Sullivan, Bruce Lunsford, Marc Benioff and Fifth Third Bank.[9]

Rubicon investor Leonardo DiCaprio at the London premiere of The Wolf of Wall Street in 2014

In September 2015, Rubicon raised $50 million in a third round of financing. The round was led by Nima Capital. Investors included Leonardo DiCaprio, Henry Kravis, Paul Tudor Jones, Goldman Sachs and Wellington Management.[10]

In October 2016, Rubicon was named a Next Billion-Dollar Startup by Forbes.[11]

In January 2017, Forbes reported that Rubicon had raised an additional $50 million in funding, bringing its valuation to $800 million.[12] French-based multi-national company Suez led the financing round.

Corporate information

Rubicon has offices in Atlanta, Lexington, Ky., New York and San Francisco.[13]

Advisory board members include Marie-Josée Kravis and Kevin Warsh.[6]

Business model

A Ramco Environmental Services hauling truck with the Rubicon Global logo

Rubicon aims to cut costs for customers by working with suppliers to reduce inefficiencies and maximize the amount of waste being diverted from landfills.[14] Customers include 7-Eleven and Wegmans.[2] Rubicon serves the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and launched in 18 additional countries in early 2016.[15]

Rubicon is a cloud-based company. It created and maintains its own software platform that analyzes its customers’ waste stream and makes sense of all the data on haulers, clients, and recycling possibilities.[2]

Industry reaction

Rubicon's business model, focused on moving the industry away from landfills and investing in technology, has elicited strong reactions from the large incumbent waste companies.[16]

At WasteExpo 2017, Waste Management CEO James Fish commented on Rubicon's landfill diversion goals by saying, "To the extent that all of us own disposal facilities of some type, maybe we are married to it, and I'm OK with that at 30 percent margins. I’m agnostic here with respect to landfills versus recycling."[17]

In June 2017, Waste Connections filed a lawsuit against Rubicon and its national director of outside sales who had previously worked for a Waste Connections subsidiary. A spokesperson for Rubicon said: "We are in a battle for the future of the industry and this is likely just another part of its response."[18]

Acquisition speculation

Forbes contributor Marilyn Cohen has written that if "Rubicon is really the Uber of the garbage business, it could be a perfect future acquisition for one of the industry giants."[19]

Sharing economy

In 2015, Rubicon launched an app that provides on-demand trash pickup.[1]

Rubicon has been called the “Uber for trash”.[20][1] Key Rubicon advisors and employees with Uber connections include Oscar Salazar, David Plouffe and Brent Callinicos.

Small business empowerment

Rubicon has focused on small business empowerment. The company is partnered with the National Federation of Independent Business to promote and expand their independent vendor network.[21]

Rubicon has more than 5,200 independent vendors in its network.[22] It helps small businesses achieve scale and compete through Rubicon Pro, a suite of app-based tools that it launched in 2016.[23]

Rubicon has partnered with The Credit Junction to provide its network of haulers with flexible financing, including access to term loans or lines of credit from $500,000 to $5 million.[24]

Municipalities

Rubicon launched a partnership with the City of Atlanta in December 2016.[25] The city's waste trucks are deployed with Rubicon's mobile app and the Department of Public Works has access to the company's vendor platform.

Rubicon announced municipal partnerships with the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico[26] and the City of Columbus, Georgia[27] in the spring of 2017.

Partnerships

Logo for French-based utility company Suez

In January 2017, Rubicon announced a strategic partnership with Suez.[28] The companies will collaborate on technology and data.

Impact

Zero Waste and Environmental Data

Rubicon CEO Nate Morris has said that the company's goal is to move all of their "material into something more sustainable than a landfill by 2022."[29] Rubicon is a member of the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council.[30]

Rubicon has teamed with data company Trucost to give its customers accurate data on the greenhouse gas emissions from their waste.[31]

Public Policy

In 2017, Rubicon supported legislation in Nevada to increase collection opportunities for independent haulers. The company argued in an op-ed that Senate Bill 315[32] would "save taxpayer money, empower competition, and help eradicate landfills."[33] Republic Services responded with an op-ed arguing against the bill.[34]

Benefit Corporation

Rubicon is a certified B Corporation.[35]

In 2013, Rubicon worked with companies including Warby Parker and Prudential Financial to pass a law in Delaware recognizing public benefit corporations.[36]

Recognition and Memberships

Rubicon won the Ecolab Award for Circular Economy Digital Disruptor at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in 2017. The prestigious award was presented as part of The Circulars, an awards program by the WEF’s Young Global Leaders. Rubicon CEO Nate Morris was named a finalist for the Fortune Award for Circular Economy Leadership the same year.[37]

In 2017, Inc. named Rubicon to its list of the 25 Most Disruptive Companies of the Year.[38] Other companies included on the list included Hyperloop One and SoFi.

Fast Company included Rubicon on its list of The World's Most Innovative Companies 2016 - Social Good Sector.[39]

Rubicon is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations[40] and the Wharton School Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership's Corporate Advisory Board.[41]

Case study

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fehrenbacher, Katie (6 July 2015). "Coming soon: An Uber for trash". Fortune. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Lapowsky, Issie (13 January 2015). "A Startup Just Got $30 Million to Shake Up the Garbage Industry | WIRED". Wired. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 Zax, David (25 October 2014). "Dividing and Conquering the Trash". New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  4. ↑ McCullough, Mike; D'Angelo, Caroline (13 Aug 2012). "Investing in Disruptive Sustainability". Wharton Magazine. Retrieved 21 Dec 2015.
  5. ↑ Contributor, Ashoka (30 June 2016). "Kentucky Entrepreneur Nate Morris Is Disrupting The World's Toughest Industry: Garbage". Forbes. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  6. 1 2 Koskoff, Maya (2 June 2016). "Why Did Leo DiCaprio Join a Garbage Start-Up—Literally?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "QuarterMoore invests in Rubicon Global". QuarterMoore. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "July 30, 2012 - Funding Round Venture". Crunchbase. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Lexington-based Rubicon Global raises $30M in latest round of financing". Lexington Herald-Leader. 16 Jan 2015. Retrieved 21 Dec 2015.
  10. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (17 Sep 2015). "Rubicon Global Picks Up $50M for On-Demand Trash Removal". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 21 Dec 2015.
  11. ↑ Feldman, Amy (19 October 2016). "Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  12. ↑ Konrad, Alex (10 January 2017). "Meet Rubicon Global, The Startup Using Uber's Playbook To Disrupt Your Trash". Forbes. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  13. ↑ Connect with Rubicon Global
  14. ↑ "The Elimination of Garbage". Knowledge@Wharton. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  15. ↑ Hook, Leslie (9 February 2016). "Rubicon Global: tapping an app to tip". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  16. ↑ Rosengren, Cole (16 May 2017). "For Rubicon Global, corporate chatter fuels a competitive fire". Waste Dive. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  17. ↑ "Waste360 Investor Summit - Waste Expo 2017". Wall Street Webcasting. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  18. ↑ Rosengren, Cole (21 June 2017). "Waste Connections sues Rubicon, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets". Waste Dive. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  19. ↑ Cohen, Marilyn (19 January 2017). "Steady Income With Garbage Bonds". Forbes. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  20. ↑ Strauss, Daniel (18 August 2015). "David Plouffe joins board of the 'Uber for trash'". Politico. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Rubicon Global - Small Business Empowerment".
  22. ↑ Workman, Megan (6 April 2017). "Making metrics matter". Waste Today. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  23. ↑ Henry, Zoë (27 May 2016). "How This $500 Million Company Empowers Trash Startups". Inc. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  24. ↑ Waste360 Staff (8 September 2016). "Rubicon Global Partners with The Credit Junction for New Flexible Financing Program". Waste360. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  25. ↑ Konrad, Alex (1 December 2016). "The City Of Atlanta Will Now Pick Up Its Trash Using An App From Tech Startup Rubicon Global". Forbes. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  26. ↑ Rosengren, Cole (8 March 2017). "Rubicon announces second municipal partnership with Santa Fe, NM". Waste Dive. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  27. ↑ Rosengren, Cole (17 April 2017). "Rubicon announces third municipal partnership in Columbus, GA". Waste Dive. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "SUEZ Steps Up the Digitalization of its Recycling and Recovery Activities by Acquiring a Stake in Rubicon Global". Rubicon Global. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  29. ↑ "The Elimination of Garbage". Knowledge@Wharton. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 22 Dec 2015.
  30. ↑ "Members of the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council". Retrieved 22 Dec 2015.
  31. ↑ Rosengren, Cole (5 August 2016). "Rubicon teams with Trucost to provide GHG emissions data". Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  32. ↑ "SB315 Overview". Nevada Legislature. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  33. ↑ Allegretti, Michael (14 April 2017). "It's time for waste collection norms to change". The Nevada Independent. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  34. ↑ Oudman, Tim (3 May 2017). "Response to waste collections op-ed". Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  35. ↑ "B Corp Community - Rubicon Global". Retrieved 21 Dec 2015.
  36. ↑ Menin, Sophie (29 April 2013). "Benefit-Corporations on the Rise". Barron's. Retrieved 21 Dec 2015.
  37. ↑ "Rubicon Global Wins Circular Economy Award at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos". Rubicon Global. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  38. ↑ Henry, Zoë (13 June 2017). "The 25 Most Disruptive Companies of the Year - Rubicon Global". Inc. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  39. ↑ "The World's Most Innovative Companies 2016 - Social Good". Fast Company. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  40. ↑ "Company List - Council on Foreign Relations". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  41. ↑ "Our Sponsors - Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership". Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  42. ↑ Sahlman, William A.; Ashmore, Hunter (16 November 2015). "Rubicon Global". Retrieved 9 April 2017 – via www.hbs.edu.
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