YBI portfolio company announces new partnership

By Brandon Klein | January 15, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A Youngstown Business Incubator portfolio company announced a new partnership for one of its subsidiaries.

Equipment Appraisal Services, a provider of machinery and equipment appraisals, announced that its online auction mediation company, EquipmentAuction.com, has partnered with Omaha, Neb.-based Proxibid, online marketplace for buying and selling highly valued items.

“The EquipmentAuction.com domain name carries a brand identity that is powerful,” Kipp Krukowski, managing director of Equipment Appraisal, said in a statement. “It was important for us to select a partner that would allow us to immediately capitalize on our opportunities while having the [Proxibid] experts in online auction security and payment processing handle the back-end infrastructure.”

The partnership allows the company to not only appraise machinery and equipment, but “can potentially help them sell it,” he said.

Equipment Appraisal started working from YBI, 241 W. Federal St., in downtown in January 2012, said Barb Ewing, chief operating officer of YBI. It eventually became a tenant of YBI in December 2012.

“Kipp is an extremely knowledgeable entrepreneur who fully understands the electronic marketplace,” she said. “This partnership validates that quality of Equipment Appraisal Services’ place in the industry and will provide new opportunities for their continued growth.”

Krukowski said the business incubator provides a great environment and professional advisers, making it a valuable asset for the company.

“This is a great place to have a startup business,” he said.