After five years of development and several teasing demos at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the developers of a complex but innovative bottle that fills you up with flavorful drinks while also pumping you up with nutrients have finally launched the long-awaited product.
The Reston, Virginia-based LifeFuels officially announced on Monday, September 16, that its eponymous device — billed as the world’s first smart nutrition bottle — is officially available, and orders will begin shipping immediately to backers who pre-ordered. The first one available is pretty basic; it will be available only in black, and includes a starter pack that contains three of the developers’ “FuelPods.” Shipping is free. No word yet as to how much the LifeFuels bottle will cost traditional retail customers, but pre-orders are still currently being advertised on the company’s promotional site for $180.
Basically, the Lifefuel bottle turns ordinary water into something resembling a product like Vitamin Water or Gatorade, but in a delivery device that is much more rugged and delivers flavored water for longer than any competing product so far. The bottle holds three FuelPods at a time, and each recyclable pod dispenses up to 30 drinks.
The company has also done its best to be creative with the flavors that FuelPods deliver, which includes blackberry acai, peach, kiwi strawberry lemonade, and white grapefruit citrus, among others. Each set of FuelPods has been specifically formulated to serve different needs, including boosting energy, replacing electrolytes, and promoting general wellness.
It’s a pretty clever product in its own right, but the team at LifeFuels have gone out of its way to make it smart for users. The LifeFuels app, which can check on your LifeFuels bottle’s status; track water consumption, nutrients, and hydration progress over time; and set goals, with a resulting analysis to view your performance. It’s a pretty neat trick, but for professional athletes and others whose performance requires constant hydration, it could be a real game-changer.
The company has gotten a whole bunch of attention both from the tech sector and the beverage industry, especially after winning the Innovation Award in Sports, Fitness, and Biotech at CES in 2018. At the same show, the LifeFuels team connected with top executives from the massive beverage company Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), the manufacturer of the Keurig single-serving coffee machines as well as Dr. Pepper products, a company that was swallowed up by Keurig in 2018 for more than $18 million.
LifeFuels now has an official partnership with KDP, which contributed to the company’s Series A round of funding that closed just before this year’s CES event.
“LifeFuels has created a leading edge, technology-forward drink system that meets an important on-the-go consumer need — staying on track with hydration and nutritional goals,” KDP CEO Bob Gamgort said in a release earlier this year. “We’re excited to partner with them on their growth plans for 2019 and beyond.”
