Gazelle was founded in 2006 by Israel Ganot, Rousseau Aurelien, and James McElhiney. The company launched Gazelle.com launched in 2008 and secured $46 million in funding from investors including
Venrock, Rockport Capital, Physic Ventures and Craton Equity Partners. The company's corporate office is located in San Diego, California, and employs over 150 people. In June 2013, Gazelle opened its first processing center in Louisville, Kentucky, which operates with approximately 150 employees. In November 2014, Gazelle launched a store offering certified pre-owned devices directly to consumers. By late 2014, Gazelle had paid $200 million to consumers for used devices and had processed over 2 million devices from more than 1 million customers. On November 10, 2015, Gazelle was officially acquired by Outerwall Inc., the owner of ecoATM, another electronics recycling company. In December 2020, Gazelle announced that it would be shutting down its trade-in program effective February 1, 2021.; the company reversed this decision two months later. ==Recognition and awards==