iUVì Water Purifying Smart Bottle
A gadget that offers the essentials we need when we are away from home: clean water, a powerful light, a power bank to recharge electronic devices. Designed for travel and outdoor activities, it is also very useful for everyday life.
Name: Damiano Lannini, Co-founder
Co-Founder: Ferdinando Petrella
Location: Rome, Italy
Website: www.idea3di.com
Campaign: iUVì Water Purifying Smart Bottle
Platform:Kickstarter
Funding Goal: €14,000
Duration: September 21, 2020 – October 21, 2020
Meet the creator
Both Ferdinando and I studied landscape's architecture at "La Sapienza" university in Rome. We started working with 3d printers in 2014 and we collaborated with 3DItaly, leader in Italy in the 3d printing sector, dealing with the design and development of prototypes through 3d printing. In 2016, however, we decided to embark on our own path, starting to design products for ourselves to be financed through crowdfunding platforms. Our goal is to create a recognizable and reliable brand, as did Formlabs thanks to crowdfunding, which today is an international giant of 3d printers.
Why did you choose to crowdfund your project?
We discovered crowdfunding several years ago and we have already funded and produced other devices via Kickstarter. This is a product that fully reflects the crowdfunding philosophy and that is to create something that can improve people's lives.
Do you have any prior experience with crowdfunding?
We have done other products with crowdfunding. First product was Geizeer -eco friendly ice cooling, the second was Levia - Levitating marble lamp. Both these projects were fully funded, produced and shipped to the backers. We backed some campaigns with different accounts, but only few campaigns shipped their product to us.
Meet iUVì: Water Purifying Smart Bottle
iUVì is a technological and smart bottle. It has 3 main functions: water purification by UVC technology, torch or signal device, and power bank. It is a product thought for travel and outdoor activities, but it can be really useful for everyday life.
On kickstarter the cost is 55€/59€. It is a patent pending product.
What inspired you to create this project?
Over the years, we often found ourselves far away from home, both for business and leisure. So we realized that we should create something to "make life easier," providing personal assistance in many different situations, starting from what we always need: water. Everyone needs to drink water, but whether we're travelling in the mountains or to a foreign country, it is sometimes difficult to find clean drinking water. For our daily commutes, many of us come home at night on foot or by bike, traversing dark and isolated streets or busy cities, but without safely indicating our presence to passing traffic. Making life easier also means keeping our travel accessories lightweight.
We travel with a multitude of electronic devices that always seem to run out of battery just when we need them, and never mind all the other electronic devices we leave at home.
Hence the idea of iUVì, a smart bottle designed to help travel safely and with convenience.
What products/services have you used throughout your project’s crowdfunding journey?
Facebook ads
Cross promo
Kickbooster
Storytelling
Hired professional Communication manager and designer
Mailchimp newsletter
What recommendations do you have for other project creators?
I would not want to change anything about the project; the campaign and the video are very well done and we are satisfied with the work we have done.
I suggest to use all the services we already used, such us FB ads, newsletter database, cross promo, and Kickbooster.
I think that the best way to learn how Kickstarter works is to see and to study the other campaigns that have seen very good results on this platform.
What stage is your project at now?
We have made several working prototypes. The prototypes were used to create the campaign and the video. We can say that the plastic parts designs are ready for mass production, while we are still doing improvements to the electronic boards. If all goes according to plan, the first shipments will start in February / March 2021.
What’s next?
Once production starts, we will move to find distributors and resellers on the international territory. A next step will certainly be to sell the product on ecommerce platforms. Next, we will focus on developing new accessories for the product, as well as a new version to be re-launched via crowdfunding.
Is there anything else you would like to mention?
I would like to point out that we started developing the project in March of 2019, long before the advent of the virus. We did not develop the project to ride the media wave of the virus, but we did it to solve and improve people's lives.
Where can people go to learn more about you and your project?
Campaign page
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Email