//top\\ — Dvdplay Funding

DVDPlay’s story is not one of technology or consumer habit. It is a story of —of desperate rounds, convertible notes, and the brutal math that happens when you try to out-spend a giant selling dollar bills for ninety cents. This is the anatomy of a capital war. Act I: The Bootstrap Years (2002–2005) Long before the kiosk wars, DVDPlay was the side project of Mark and Sharon Phillips, two serial entrepreneurs who had made a small fortune in the Oregon wine distribution business. Their first machine—a clunky, beige box that held 300 discs and required a customer to swipe a credit card and manually return the DVD to a slot—was funded with $80,000 of their own savings.

Note: Figures adjusted for inflation and based on Oregon Secretary of State filings, SEC Form D notices, and bankruptcy docket #12-00321 (District of Oregon). dvdplay funding

Then came Redbox. In late 2005, Redbox—then a joint venture between McDonald’s Ventures and Coinstar—rolled out 800 kiosks nationwide, pricing rentals at $1.00, undercutting DVDPlay’s $1.50. Overnight, Phillips’ bootstrapped model became unsustainable. He needed scale. He needed funding. DVDPlay’s story is not one of technology or consumer habit

DVDPlay’s story is not one of technology or consumer habit. It is a story of —of desperate rounds, convertible notes, and the brutal math that happens when you try to out-spend a giant selling dollar bills for ninety cents. This is the anatomy of a capital war. Act I: The Bootstrap Years (2002–2005) Long before the kiosk wars, DVDPlay was the side project of Mark and Sharon Phillips, two serial entrepreneurs who had made a small fortune in the Oregon wine distribution business. Their first machine—a clunky, beige box that held 300 discs and required a customer to swipe a credit card and manually return the DVD to a slot—was funded with $80,000 of their own savings.

Note: Figures adjusted for inflation and based on Oregon Secretary of State filings, SEC Form D notices, and bankruptcy docket #12-00321 (District of Oregon).

Then came Redbox. In late 2005, Redbox—then a joint venture between McDonald’s Ventures and Coinstar—rolled out 800 kiosks nationwide, pricing rentals at $1.00, undercutting DVDPlay’s $1.50. Overnight, Phillips’ bootstrapped model became unsustainable. He needed scale. He needed funding.