The 14 Year Old Who Turned Down $30M Now Wants $50M for His Start-Up

The 14 year old who turned down $30M now wants $50M for his start-up

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ENTREPRENEURS The 14 year old who turned down $30M now wants $50M for his start-up

Kate Rogers | @katerogersnews | Wednesday, 11 May 2016 | 4:56 PM ET

 This 14-year-old entrepreneur has a new kind of vending machine   5.6K     SHARES

Remember that 14-year-old entrepreneur who made headlines for turning down a $30 million buyout opportunity? Well, he has a magic number for selling his vending machine company, RecMed, and it's a cool $50 million.

Taylor Rosenthal, a ninth grader from Opelika, Alabama, launched RecMed last year. While the company has a patent for computerized vending machines that

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/11/the-14-year-old-who-turned-down-30m-now-wants-50m-for-his-start-up.html[1/6/2017 10:25:37 AM] The 14 year old who turned down $30M now wants $50M for his start-up

dispense first-aid products, it has not sold any machines yet. He is in talks to sell the machines to "major amusement parks" and is hoping to expand into sporting venues as well.

Source: RecMed First Aid Kits Taylor Rosenthal and the RecMed machine

"At the time, I felt the deal wasn't right — I felt like I wanted to grow and develop the company from what it was, which drove me to turn it down," he said about the $30 million offer.

CNBC caught up with Rosenthal at TechCrunch Disrupt in Brooklyn on Thursday, where the young entrepreneur said he was "hoping" to strike a deal offering him $50 million to sell soon. RecMed has already raised $100,000 from angel investors.

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Kyle Sandler, investor and founder of The Round House, the Alabama incubator Rosenthal launched from, said RecMed is in talks with a "major consumer product company in the home and health-care space" about a potential deal. Rosenthal began working out of the incubator after developing a business plan in a Young Entrepreneurs Academy class.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/11/the-14-year-old-who-turned-down-30m-now-wants-50m-for-his-start-up.html[1/6/2017 10:25:37 AM] The 14 year old who turned down $30M now wants $50M for his start-up

Sandler and Rosenthal declined to disclose whom the $30 million offer came from due to a non-disclosure agreement.

The teen's favorite entrepreneur? That'd be Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a "Shark Tank" judge, because he is "big in the sports industry."

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Source: Brandi Simons

And just like Cuban, Rosenthal has a flair for the flashy. If he does get that big payout, he said he plans to put cash in the bank to attend Notre Dame University and study business or medicine.

His other plan? To buy a Bentley, even though he doesn't even have a learner's permit yet.

"I would get someone to drive me around," he said.

Spoken like a true businessman.

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."

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