Product creating a sensation on Kickstarter.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A startup venture out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, wants to shore up people’s daily water intake by producing a new smart water bottle that glows when it’s time to take a drink of water.
Coined HidrateMe, the sleek water bottle is making big waves on Kickstarter, having raised more than 7 times its allotted $35,000 goal with more than a month to go.
The bottle, which is constructed from BPA-free plastic, holds 24 ounces of water. It contains a sensor that tracks how much you drink and then transmits that information to an accompanying app on your smartphone via Bluetooth. Furthermore, the app collects data about your physical stats and activity levels and then calculates your ideal water intake per day.
Additionally, the app can track your location and adjust your recommended water intake based on the temperature, humidity, and elevation of your surroundings. According to the makers of HidrateMe, testing indicated the smart water bottle’s included battery power will last for well over a year.
The HidrateMe project found its catalyst in September 2014 when CEO Nadya pulled together a team of fellow University of Minnesota students for the Google Startup weekend in Minneapolis, Minn. to build the first smart water bottle prototype. In just 54 hours they had built a water bottle that tracked water intake and synced to a mobile app on a smartphone.
They eventually won third place at the Google contest and people began asking when the water bottles would be available for purchase, they were on to something. The team worked evenings and weekends for 7 months before being accepted into the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator powered by Techstars, which is one of the most renowned startup accelerators in the United States.