GERMANY – Mitte, the first of its kind smart home water system, has announced that it has secured US$10.6 million in financing, for a project of building a system that turns plain tap water to mineralized water at home.
According to the company, the financing round was led by Danone Manifesto Ventures, the New York-based venture arm of Danone, VisVires New Protein Capital, and Kärcher New Venture.
Mitte, a Berlin-based startup, was founded in 2016 with the goal of providing solutions to plain tap water quality and promoting sustainability.
This was done by offering an alternative to bottled water through its smart home water system that purifies and enhances water through a process inspired by the natural water cycle.
Mitte works by purifying water with a proprietary distillation-based method, and enhancing the water with essential minerals.
Moritz Waldstein, founder and CEO of Mitte stated, “Mitte is on a mission to improve lives with healthy water produced in an environmentally friendly system. We aim to offer consumers clean and healthy water.
For Mitte, healthy water means two things; free of contaminants and full of minerals that are known to be essential for humans.
We are thrilled to be supported by forward-looking partners like Danone Manifesto Ventures and VisVires New Protein Capital that understand our mission.
We believe this partnership will position us to execute on our expansion plan as we benefit from our partners’ significant food and beverage expertise.
We are confident that Mitte’s positive impact will affect every aspect of the way people consume water, the environment and make an impact on the hydration industry as a whole.”
The company also reported that its mineral cartridges are designed to replicate the mineralization process of natural and pure water flows, while allowing consumers the option to choose a tailored hydration experience.
Mitte allows users to personalize their daily drinking water with different mineral cartridges containing varying levels of natural minerals.
“Mitte is a compelling business that is differentiated from other at-home water purification products with its ability to create personalized purified waters enriched with minerals, as well as with its smart technology and IoT connectivity,” said Laurent Marcel, Managing Director of Danone Manifesto Ventures.
“We believe that Mitte has significant potential and represents a strong strategic fit for Danone Manifesto Ventures, advancing our goal of promoting health through hydration.
We look forward to supporting Mitte’s ambition to provide consumers with the opportunity to choose their preferred mineralization levels and taste profile,” commented Jean-Francois Hurel, Head of Investment of Danone Manifesto Ventures.
The financing round will support Mitte’s expansion plan including in the U.S., where it ran a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2017 that was overfunded by 360%. Mitte remains committed to its partnership with its communities and to building smarter and sustainable solutions to healthy drinking water.
“Mitte has developed a unique product with the potential for significant growth and positive societal impact,” said Matthieu Vermersch, Founder and Partner of VisVires New Protein Capital.
“Mitte not only offers a transformational solution with the provision of high-quality healthy water but also a highly sustainable alternative to the burgeoning issue of plastic pollution, a phenomenon faced globally but notably in Asia where concerns over safe drinking water have been traditionally addressed via the purchase and consumption of bottled water.”