Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Ember(opens in a new window)
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Ember(opens in a new window)
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
The first prototype of the Ember mug was a Frankensteinian prototype involving aZojirushi mugand a bunch of electronics.Image Credits:Ember
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
A Portable Medicine Cooler Prototype created in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic in 2018.Image Credits:Ember
fundraise
Gadgets
Gaming
A prototype of a cylindrical medicine cooler was developed in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic. This concept was from 2019.Image Credits:Ember
Government & Policy
ironware
The Ember Cube dashboard enables shippers to see the medicines in transit in near-real-time, complete with temperature readouts.Image Credits:Ember
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
infinite
startup
TikTok
transferral
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
A deep dive into the evolution of smart-mug company Ember
Ember’sfirst Indiegogo campaigndrew sideways glances when it launch in 2015 . Would anyone really buy a $ 129 heated up coffee bean mug ? well-nigh a decade later , however , it ’s absolved that the initial pitching was merely the bakshish of the startup ’s heat / cool down berg .
TechCrunch recently sit around down with Clay Alexander , the firm ’s founder and president , to take a deep dive into Ember ’s history — and see a glimpse of where thing are manoeuver .
“ We ’re well over 3 million unit [ of the smart mug ] at this point , ” the administrator severalize TechCrunch . “ We ’re nearing a million unit a year now . When I first created this technology , I had so many hoi polloi in my life say , ‘ oh Henry Clay , you ’ll never sell a $ 100 electronic umber mug . You ’ve recede your mind . ’ As a founder , you just have to have perseverance , and you have to have this gut instinct that overpowers logic . ”
Beyond the troupe ’s good - known coffee receptacle , Ember has made a foray into the aesculapian sector with the Ember Cube , a shipping box seat for things that need to stay temperature - master — chiefly medicinal drug . It also create heated babe bottle now , too .
Ember is in the baby bottle line of work now
“ I always say to people that cool is much harder than heating . Heating is fairly aboveboard in that you’re able to create a heater by using a resistive heating component or a resistive heat wire . I intend , heck , you’re able to just put electricity into any wire . It ’s gon na warm up up , right ? , ” Alexander notes . cool is a different animate being , however . “ People do n’t realize that you ’re not pumping cold energy into a electric refrigerator — you ’re really pull hotness vim out of the box . ”
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Beginnings
Ember ’s inception can be follow back to a relatable second of defeat : a lukewarm cup of coffee . Alexander , a self - proclaim coffee aficionado , longed for a solution to assert the perfect temperature of his preferred brew from the first sip to the last . The path to bringing Ember to life was challenging . As a computer hardware startup , Ember face unique obstacles that often dissuade entrepreneurs from venturing into this space . From the gamey ware - development and manufacturing costs to the complex web of IP security and international expansion , Alexander navigated a snarl of challenges that would screen his resolution and determination .
Despite obstacle , Alexander rest steadfast . He foregather a team of engineers , designers and trafficker who shared his passion for creating a product that would enhance the chocolate - drinking experience and fight the bound of what was possible in consumer technology . As Ember began to take shape , Alexander and his team poured unnumberable hours into research and development , test various fabric and technologies until they arrived at a solution that met their bar . The outcome was a silklike , nonrational mug that could preserve a exact temperature for hours , controlled through a dewy-eyed smartphone app . Indeed , 2,000 backers twit to the thought on Indiegogo , give the company a $ 360,000 hard currency injection and its first soupcon at market validation . Not long after , the troupe resurrect a serial of equity rounds , including a$13 millionanda $ 23 millionround .
Ember just raise $ 13 million for its popular , temperature - controlled mugs
Balancing phase and occasion was an early challenge familiar to anyone in the ironware blank . The mug need to effectively keep temperature while also being visually appealing and comfortable to withstand . After wide examination and cultivation , Ember finally finalize on a silky , minimalist blueprint that seamlessly integrated the heat technology into the sucker ’s walls . The mug also features wireless charging , customizable temperature mise en scene and a smartphone app that allow users to control it remotely .
Then there ’s the challenge of actually bringing the product to food market . Unlike software ontogeny , hardware development requires significant upfront investing in materials , tooling and fabrication appendage . As Alexander notes , these costs can cursorily inflate , cast immense pressure on startups to insure funding and generate revenue as soon as potential .
Across the sea
Once a product is developed , hardware startups must voyage the complex world of intellectual property security . In a ferociously competitive market , safeguarding one ’s origination is critical to long - term achiever , but procure patents and trademarks can be time - consuming and expensive . This can be a daunting prospect for startups with limited imagination , take careful strategizing and prioritization .
At one point , Ember incur an incredible opportunity , which turned out to be a considerable challenge . Until this point , the mugs were already on sales event in Starbucks and in other eminent - profile retail stores . But then , one of the biggest and most influential retail merchant in the Earth came knocking .
Starbucks embark on sell Ember mug , which keep your drink at a unfaltering temp for hours
“ We were expanding not just in the U.S. It lease us about two old age to get into the Apple store — the amount of testing they put your product through is hazardous — and the act of times I fly up to Cupertino … but it was worth it , ” Alexander remembers . “ But Apple does not wish to do set launches . If they like your product , and you ’ve passed all their tryout , they basically come to you and say , Okay , we want to do this on a global graduated table . ”
At the sentence , Ember was only shipping to North America , but when Apple came knocking and said it want to start selling its product in 27 countries , they did n’t require whether to jump , but rather how high to hop .
“ I remember going to my ops squad and saying , ‘ Guy , Apple ’s coming to us with a silver platter , which would turn us into an international brand overnight . Are we going to do this ? ’ And it was a couple of weeks of whiteboarding and blind panic , ” Alexander laughs . “ And ultimately , we just said , ‘ You have a go at it what , you only live once , permit ’s do this , ’ and it was the most excruciating year of our life . We went from North America to 27 countries with Apple . ”
As Ember began to dilate internationally , Alexander and his team run into challenge around sail the regulatory landscape of unlike countries , securing honest manufacture partners and adapting to local marketplace weather condition . Each challenge required a deep intellect of the world-wide ironware ecosystem . Alexander credit Ember ’s winner in this area to the forte of his squad and their willingness to learn and adapt on the fly ball .
Going from hot to cold
While Ember ’s smart mug has been a resounding achiever in the consumer market , the company ’s aspiration extend far beyond hot beverages .
“ I recall intend , ‘ What can we do with our temperature - control technology to help save lives ? ’ I could see that we were becoming very successful in consumer , ” Alexander explains . “ I had Wyatt Decker , the CEO of the Mayo Clinic in Arizona , on my board of directors . It was really cool to have a big - meter health care executive director on our control panel . And he would invite us out to the Mayo Clinic . And we would sit there in these conference rooms with doctors and scientist . Our thought was to excavate how our temperature - control technology could aid clear infliction points in healthcare , whether it ’s medicine or displace organ around or what - have - you . ”
Alexander and his squad retreated back to the lab to start tackling the challenge it had name , putting its wads and dozens of patents to good utilization . The troupe says it has more than 200 granted patent today , almost all of them in temperature ascendency , whether it ’s semiconductor refrigeration applied science , heating technologies or the control condition system to manage it all .
The work pay rise to Ember Cube , a gadget that call to resolve one of the most pressing challenge in the medical theatre of operations . Many medications , particularly those used in Cancer the Crab treatment and vaccinum dispersion , demand accurate temperature ascendance to keep efficaciousness . Even svelte diversion from the optimal temperature range can generate these medications useless or harmful . The Ember Cube direct this issue by providing a portable , highly accurate , temperature - controlled surroundings for storing and transport raw medications . leverage the same ethos used in its level-headed mug , the Ember Cube assert a exact temperature reach , assure that the medical specialty inside remain viable and effective .
If by rights execute , the engineering could be a game auto-changer . By enabling the good and efficient statistical distribution of temperature - sore medications , the Ember Cube could help amend memory access to liveliness - save treatment in remote or underserved areas . It could also reduce the price and complexity of vaccine statistical distribution , a critical thoughtfulness in the brass of spheric health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic . Once you have the technology , oodles of opportunities startle to surface . For example , the U.S. Anti - Doping Agency revealed thatit uses Ember ’s technology ahead of the 2024 Olympic team test .
Alexander note that he check the development of the Ember Cube as a natural organic evolution of Ember ’s charge to use technology to solve real - world problems . By applying its expertness in temperature control to the medical field of battle , Ember is poised to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patient worldwide .
Spinning out
The decision to carve up Ember into two distinct divisions — consumer and life science — was a strategical move designed to allow each branch of the party to focus on its kernel competency and fair game markets . Bycreating a dedicated life sciences division , Ember can channel its resources and endowment toward developing new applications for its technology in the aesculapian study , from improving the storage and transportation of vaccinum to enable more precise temperature controller in research lab options .
The stock split enables the society to serve different customer population — both in the Cartesian product signified and in the investor sensation — and the party hireda former Dyson White House ( Jim Rowan ) as the CEO of its consumer division .
“ About a year and a half ago , we really spun out Ember Life Sciences as a standalone entity , ” Alexander allege . The company ab initio hold back the same cap table for both companies but allow the two entity to deviate from there . “ It allowed us to heighten capital from the healthcare industry , and we ’re quite gallant of some of our fairness partners . Carrier — the earthly concern ’s largest commercial-grade refrigeration manufacturer — is our investor . We also have some other investors as well in the health care space . By spinning it out , we could appeal life sciences and healthcare type of fairness investments and board member , etc . , as react to when we had them all combined . ”
Ember dilate into cold chain of mountains aesculapian merchant marine with fresh twist , Cardinal Health partnership
From cool to very cold indeed
“ We ’re actually trying to move into the cell and factor therapy space with cryogenic merchant marine , ” Alexander tantalise , indicate me a pic of the epitome gimmick . He then swears me to silence , saying I ca n’t partake the picture I ’ve witness .
As Alexander looks to the future , he is filled with excitement and theory .
The Ember Cube can keep products at 5degC ( 41F ) for 72 hour . The company ’s next foray is cryogenic transport , in which the temperature must persist at -150C ( -238F ) for extended periods .
“ Negative 150C is no put-on . It ’s a hell of a thing . We use swimming nitrogen , and the shipping box has a parazoan - like stuff , so the N gets absorb into the walls . If it get tip over , nothing comes out , it ’s a wry shipper , ” Alexander says . “ It ’s a major applied science challenge . You have to do it in a vacuum , and it ’s all very complex engineering . ”
Alexander say the cryogenic shipper is around 18 month from being available as a commercial product , but the Ember squad is psyched about the progress it has made so far .
“ We ’ve run thermal chamber testing and have been able to keep the payload below negative 150 Celsius for 10 24-hour interval , ” Alexander explain . “ The target consultation for this is cellphone and gene therapy — ace high - tech medicine that is literally curing cancer and saving life . tattle about a feel - just affair as a sword , right ? At our core we love to make product that bring expectant pleasure and unequalled restroom to people ’s lives like we ’ve done with the Ember mug and Ember Baby Bottle , but using our technology to help save sprightliness is the holy grail for us . ”
