Flowater Raised $15 Million to Help Eradicate Plastic Water Bottles

There isn’t anything more refreshing than drinking great tasting ice cold water when you are thirsty. Instead of automatically reaching for a plastic bottle of water, think about filling up from a refill water station.

By using the newest technology in its water refill stations, FloWater asserts that their water tastes and hydrates better than any bottled water, even premium brands.

The water in the refill stations tastes so good because of engineering and not just chance. The stations use a high-tech 7x purification system that removes contaminants and chemicals from tap water and then oxygenates it and adds electrolytes and trace minerals to provide a higher level of hydration than ordinary tap water or bottled water according to the company website. A coconut filter finishes the water so that cold, great tasting and refreshing water is delivered from the refill station into any refillable container.

User surveys showed that eight out-of-ten people prefer the taste of FloWater over bottled water brands.  “Our outcome data from locations all over the country where FloWater Refill Stations are deployed shows significant cost-savings, better hydration and reduced soda consumption—all without the plastic,” FloWater Co-Founder and CEO Rich Razgaitis told Business Den.

With sales of single-use plastic water bottles at an all-time high – one million purchased every minute – and with the devastating consequences of plastic pollution, refill stations in schools, workplaces, and retail spaces are the environmental alternative.

FloWater just achieved the milestone of the equivalent of one million plastic water bottles being removed from the marketplace since its launch eight years ago. Its mission is to eliminate one billion plastic water bottles by 2022.

This goal has just become very achievable because Bluewater, a world-leader in sustainable water technologies, just partnered with FloWater with a $15 million series B investment making it FloWater’s largest investor.

“FloWater and Bluewater make for a natural fit thanks to our shared commitment to end the need for single use plastic bottles and a mutual people-centric culture that builds on unsurpassed dedication to quality, continuous innovation in technology and planet-friendly solutions and a passion to enhance human health and wellbeing,” said Anders Jacobson, president of Bluewater and Co-Founder & CEO of Blue, the international impact-focused investment company owning Bluewater in a press release.

Razgaitis told Business Den that at FloWater’s core is the belief that access to clean drinking water is an “inherent right of humanity.” So much so, that in 2016, the company donated eight refill stations to Flint, Michigan where residents were forced to use bottled water due to the 2014 water crisis.

In 2017, FloWater worked with Dig Deep to provide five refill stations to SMASE, the Navajo reservations only school for disabled children and adults. The water was contaminated and undrinkable, so the school relied on bottled water. 

“We started this company to be a force for good and to redefine how people see water,” Razgaitis told Business Den. “We’re building a new infrastructure of delivering water globally that eliminates the delivery of plastic water bottles and the environmental impact that causes.”