Two brothers from Elora have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to help move their new water infusion bottle from concept to reality.
Co-founders Jesse, 26, and Luke Hambly, 24, decided to redefine personal water infusers about a year ago. Their solution was the Pressa Bottle, which has a built-in twist plate and basket that allows consumers to crush the fruit and release juice into the water.
It’s up to the consumer to decide if they want a milder flavour – one or two twists that will allow them to refill and infuse the bottle about five times a day – or if they want full flavour by pressing the fruit completely until all the juice is released at once.
“The main reason that people opt for other drinks is taste over water,” Jesse explained. “You (don’t) necessarily … want a Coke, your body really wants the sugar, so … by adding taste to water you create a desire to have this over a Coca Cola or a Minute Maid juice or something.”
The idea first came to Jesse when he heard his roommates complaining about taking lemons out of their water at the end of the day and the maintenance associated with fruit floating freely in the bottle.
“They were using things that were kind of similar to [Pressa Bottle] so I thought if you just put a small press in there and press out all the juice within it, you could just maximize the fruit and not have to even touch it after it comes out,” Jesse said.
About a year ago Luke bought a 3D printer and the brothers began bringing their idea to life.
“We kind of just started making prototypes that didn’t look like this one at all, they were pretty ugly,” Luke said.
After about 70 models the brothers came up with the current design, which has been tweaked based on feasibility and consumer input.
“That’s kind of the sweet thing about 3D printing, you’re not production tooling and retooling and retooling to make it work,” Luke said.
The design process took about four months. For the past six months the brothers have been working on the business model. They worked with the Conestoga College Centre for Entrepreneurship and have been accepted into AC JumpStart through the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo.
The program, which started on Dec. 1, will help them take the right steps with their business and link them to successful mentors in the Waterloo area.
The Hamblys’ $35,000 Kickstarter campaign was launched on Nov. 23 and runs until Dec. 23. They had $16,193 pledged at press time. The funds will be used for marketing and the production tooling (mold-making) to manufacture the bottle out of BPA-free materials.
Though the product is not yet out of the prototype and 3D printing stage, Pressa Bottle is scheduled to be manufactured in Waterloo.
“That’s the one thing we wanted to push too, is we wanted to do everything Canadian, keep everything Canadian made, all our manufacturing,” Jesse said.
The “backers” who choose to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign are really just purchasing bottles ahead of time, Luke explained.
“We didn’t want to do donations or anything, more just sell the bottles ahead of time and give them some extra perks as to a reason why they would buy it ahead of time,” Luke said.
Contributors are also eligible for possible prizes including original 3D-printed prototypes, draws and surprise gifts.
“Backers” will also receive a small discount on the cost of the bottle when bought through Kickstarter.
If the crowdfunding campaign raises more than $50,000, a glass bottle will also be manufactured and available for purchase. To pledge to the campaign visit www.kickstarter.com and search “Pressa Bottle.”
The bottles will cost approximately $22 and will likely be available for purchase in February at pressabottle.com.
