Cash flow is positive for Eid Access

BEAVERTON, Ore. - A year and half after spinning off from Unicru, an automator of pre-employment screening systems, Eid Access is poised to land on its feet with an $11 million round of funding expected to close later this year. The company, which provides a system enabling retailers to track the vendors coming into the store, recently secured $2 million investment from Kroll Inc. in a separate financing arrangement. The investment provides Kroll with the exclusive right to provide background screening for Eid Access Vendor Passport System, a program marketed to retailers. The investment by Kroll shows a level of confidence in the system, said Steve Larson, chairman and chief executive officer of Eid Access. In the next few months, Kroll may also invest an additional $1 million in the company as part of an agreement. For Eid Access, Kroll’s financing and the expected round of funding will move the company into cash flow positive territory for the first time. What is also expected to contribute to the company’s financial stability is a rollout of the company’s product in the Chicago market. Between 12 to 14 retailers plan to implement the system to track when a vendor comes into a store to stock shelves and shows what time the vendor arrives and leaves. Vendor companies, on the other hand, gain knowledge about employee whereabouts and can tell which stores were visited on a given day. The same system is deployed at multiple retail sites to provide a single system and eliminate multiple access badges. Larson said additional markets will be added in the future, but the plan is to tackle dense markets first, where multiple retailers can sign on to use the system. Once the $11 million round of financing is complete , it will mark the second cash infusion for Eid Access. At its launch in January of 2002, the company raised $5.5 million, which was used to call upon a consortium of former retail executives from the likes of Target and Rite Aid to help build the concept.