Each month as part of StartHub’s Startups to Watch Program we connect with the winning company to learn more about them. Recently we had the pleasure of connecting with Sean Grundy, CEO & Co-Founder of Bevi, a Boston-based, eco-friendly, smart, soft drink dispenser startup reimagines the office water cooler.
StartHub: Tell us about your company. What does Bevi do?
Bevi makes internet-connected water coolers that provide unlimited sparkling, still, and flavored water. We are eliminating the need for single-use plastic bottles by making high-quality drinks available on demand.
StartHub: What is your background?
Before starting the company, I worked in environmental conservation in the US and China, and then went to business school at MIT.
StartHub: How did you come up with the idea for Bevi? Who is your target customer?
My co-founders and I created Bevi because even though we were environmentalists, we still found ourselves buying water and other beverages in plastic bottles, purely out of convenience. We wanted to make it equally convenient to get the drinks we wanted without wasting plastic. Today, our target customers are corporate offices; we’re providing a whole new take on the office water cooler.
StartHub: How do you think Bevi is going to disrupt the market? What are the main differentiators between you and your competitors?
We’re kicking up office water by a few notches. In addition to purified and sparkling water, we offer our customers 15 healthy flavored drinks. All our machine connect to the internet and let us know exactly when machines need restocking, which enables us to provide excellent and proactive service. Plus, getting drinks from Bevi is actually fun!
StartHub: Who are your main investors?
Our main investors are Horizons Ventures and Tamarisc. We’re lucky to have many great investors!
StartHub: Why did you decide to start your business in Boston? How long has your company been around?
My co-founders and I started the business in Boston first and foremost because we already lived here, but we stayed because we found the city extremely friendly towards start-ups, in particular hardware start-ups. Boston has a strong support network for early-stage entrepreneurs – in terms of grants, accelerator programs, access to hands-on angel investors, and a strong pool of talented engineers and business people that are interested in start-ups. Boston-based companies, even established ones, also tend to be very supportive of local start-ups. I’m pretty sure the fact that we were local played a role in our early customers’ willingness to work with us. We incorporated in August 2013, and launched our first product in September 2014.
StartHub: What resources in the startup community have contributed to the success of Bevi? (For example, co-working spaces, accelerators networking groups)
Hands down the most important experience in our early history was Techstars; that’s really where we learned to work effectively as a team, and where we learned what it meant to move fast. The Cleantech Open was also great in kickstarting us, and Greentown Labs and MassCEC were also essential in supporting our growth.
StartHub: How do you use StartHub professionally?
To get the word out about Bevi and keep tabs on what else is going on in the start-up community!
StartHub: What are the next steps for Bevi?
There are so many next steps! We’re expanding regionally out of the northeast – we’re about to launch in the San Francisco Bay Area. We aim to expand into several new geographic markets in the next twelve months. We’re also always working on new beverage ingredients, new technology to let users customize drinks, building out our remote management system, and more.
StartHub: What is the most important thing our readers should know about Bevi?
We’re hiring! Please check out our open jobs at http://bevi.co/careers.html.