The idea behind Bottleplus? With the Swiss innovation, drinking water can be carbonated on the go. So sparkling water to go. The inventors wanted 800,000 francs for 14 percent of the company shares.
The group of investors led by Bettina Hein, Roland Brack, Lukas Speiser and Jürg Schwarzenbach from “Die Höhle der Löwen” were impressed by the idea. But no deal was made.
No deal with “Lion’s Cave” for Bottleplus, then still Re Zen
Two ETH graduates and one idea: Linus Lingg (left) invented Bottleplus with his fellow student Christian Käser.
The idea behind Bottleplus? With the Swiss innovation, drinking water can be carbonated on the go. So sparkling water to go. The inventors wanted 800,000 francs for 14 percent of the company shares.
The group of investors led by Bettina Hein, Roland Brack, Lukas Speiser and Jürg Schwarzenbach from “Die Höhle der Löwen” were impressed by the idea. But no deal was made.
A Swiss start-up was able to lure the investors from “Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz” with a bottle of sparkling water to go. But the inventors subsequently rejected the deal.
The zipper, Velcro or Doodle: Switzerland is a paradise for inventors. And every week, daring new founders venture onto the TV show “Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz” and pitch their ideas in the hope of getting a deal from investors.
So did the two handball friends and ETH graduates Christian Käser (28) and Linus Lingg (28). Käser had the brainwave on a train journey when his water bottle filled with sparkling water opened with a loud hiss – and boom, the idea for Bottleplus was born.
Bottleplus is a drinking bottle with an integrated gas tank, similar to the systems for making sparkling water at home. Quasi Blööterliwasser to go in your own container. Goodbye PET.
Lions interested – but no deal
The environmentally friendly drinking bottle idea was convincing and four of the financially strong lions bit. For the start-up, the founding duo demanded 100,000 francs for 1.6 percent of the company shares; In the end, the lions together offered 800,000 francs for 14 percent.
But Käser and Lingg dropped the deal afterwards and preferred another investor – outside the show. Christian Käser, co-founder of Bottleplus: “We felt from the talks that the other investor could accompany and support us very closely and intensively in setting up the start-up.”
With the new cash injection, the start-up entrepreneurs now want to go one step further. A set-up for mass production is being set up so that by March 2023 the bottles will be ready for shipping. In addition to the online offer, Käser and Lingg would also like to get one or two major distributors on board.
They are convinced of the success of their product, they have role models like Air Up or Waterdrops in mind; Pioneer in healthy and sustainable beverage consumption.
The cards are good, believes Christian Käser. Switzerland is a good spot for new ideas: “Especially for very young start-ups, there are enormous opportunities for support and financial support. Participation in various competitions and funding programs gave us a lot of valuable input at the very beginning of our journey and also opened up a large network.»
The Lion’s Den Switzerland
Tue 18.10. 20:15 – 22:35 ∙ 3+ ∙ CH 2022 ∙ 140 min