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Since its launch in 2018, LARQ has been making waves, competing with elegant water bottle manufacturers like S’well and filtration giants like Brita. However, cofounder Justin Wang felt the pressure maximum intensely while he seemed on ABC’s Shark Tank in April. During season 12, Wang asked for half of 1,000,000 greenbacks for a 1% stake in LARQ, the highest valuation within the display’s history.
“Initially, we have been laughed out of the room,” Wang recalls. “For the first 30 seconds, the Sharks were in disbelief, again and again saying, ‘You gotta be kidding me.'” Viewers on Twitter were equally skeptical approximately a $95 water bottle.
LARQ’s self-cleaning bottles utilize UV-C LED lighting to take away as much as 99.Ninety nine% of micro organism and viruses and are designed to self-easy every two hours.
To persuade the Sharks, Wang disclosed LARQ’s incredible numbers: $five.5 million in sales the first 12 months, $9 million the second, and $14 million the 0.33. This year, the company is projected to attain nearly $20 million in income.
“I step by step received the Sharks over and obtained offers totaling $1.5 million, three instances my initial ask, from three distinctive Sharks,” Wang says. Previously, he was president at Foreo, a Swedish beauty-tech logo, and an investor with L Capital, the funding arm of LVMH.
By the end of the Shark Tank phase, LARQ secured $1 million for a four% stake from Sharks Lori Greiner and Kevin O’Leary.
With the introduction of the LARQ Pitcher, its second product, the company projects revenues to reach $30 million in 2022. Based in Foster City, California, LARQ launched its self-cleaning bottles after a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that raised $1.4 million in under 30 days.
“We sketched LARQ bottles on a napkin, hoping to make an impact,” Wang says. He founded LARQ with Douglas Collins, an expert in LED and semiconductor technology with a Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech. Collins developed the proprietary UV-C light technology that neutralizes harmful bacteria. LARQ bottles, priced between $78 and $120, are available in 15 retailers including Nordstrom, Revolve, and MoMA, with 70% of sales coming from direct-to-consumer channels.
“Water bottles, whether priced at $15 or $50, became fashion accessories,” says Wang. “But our technology had to address water safety and taste issues.” Research indicated that despite many chic reusable bottles, people remained addicted to plastic-bottled water due to convenience and ease of cleaning.
In September 2020, LARQ raised $11 million in Series A funding from Seventure and DCM, which helped develop the pitcher’s filter and UV-C LED technology. The company has already presold 20,000 pitchers, challenging Brita’s dominance of the market.
The LARQ Pitcher, retailing at $148, features a two-stage filtration system that removes heavy metals and chemicals and connects to an app that tracks family hydration goals. “We use IoT and material science to make the experience friction-free,” Wang adds. The new pitcher will be available at Williams-Sonoma and MoMA.
Wang openly discusses the contaminants in faucet water. “While pitchers like Brita and Soma particularly eliminate chlorine and odors, they do not do away with metals, arsenic, herbicides, insecticides, and other contaminants,” he explains.
Despite securing Series A funding in 2020, Wang accepted the invitation to appear on Shark Tank in spring 2021. “We needed more capital, and while our Series A investors are great with tech, we sought consumer-facing investors,” says Wang. “It was a unique opportunity to reach the most famous consumer investors.”
Wang acknowledges the exposure from the show was invaluable. “We reached new audiences, and it accelerated our journey,” he says. The timing was also crucial as it was the first episode to air since the pandemic halted production. “Sustainability and wellness were top of mind, making our themes more relevant than ever,” says Wang.
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