With battery technology and a half-horsepower motor that no one has used in a consumer device, the BlenderCap is one of the most ridiculously over-engineered products we’ve seen in this hot moment. We took a closer look at his conversation with the team behind the product at CES in Las Vegas to find out more.
Why do you need a portable blender in the first place?
“We originally invented this for personal use to make a smoothie after the gym. I was going to CrossFit and then wanted a protein shake. I made a shake, but after working out for an hour or two, it melted and became lumpy. [Moore] And I became friends and started working on how to pack that technology into a tiny little cap. “
At the time, the two were building Apple’s battery factory in China, and they were working on a blender beside it. About a year ago, the two left his job at Apple to make his BlenderCap a reality. In the process, they’ve created an absolute beast of a blender.
BlendCap kit. It boasts a custom PCB and a battery soldered directly to the board. image credit: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
“circleI discovered that I could make a margarita smoothie. In our tests, we ran an entire Costco bag of ice on a single charge, and he can make 10 in a row,” Adams laughs. “I filled a 5-gallon Home Depot bucket full of margaritas, which means that instead of charging every day, he charges once every week or two.”
Battery technology is the company’s strength, and the founders ended up using custom batteries with technology that was beginning to appear in the next generation of electric vehicles.
The blender cap weighs about 1 pound and is very simple. He has only one button. Hold to blend or double click and he will blend for 25 seconds. It charges via USB-C, and the company has decided to use the same thread pattern that Hydroflask uses. That means it’s compatible with a large number of thermos-like bottles that many people already own.
“Sold as a kit. Comes with 32 oz vacuum insulated bottle, double-walled stainless steel, dishwasher safe. Comes with blender cap, blade cover, dual twist cap, wide mouth It turns a bottle into a smoothie mouthpiece,” says Matthew Moore, another co-founder of the company.
It is not yet possible to purchase the blender cap separately. The company says it’s trying to keep the number of products it sells under control.
This is where the magic sauce is stored. In this case, the “magic source” is clearly electricity. Image credit: TechCruch / Haje Kamps
“In the future, we will use more kitting techniques, perhaps offering them alone or in different sized bottles, etc. We only sell one kit,” Moore explains. “Early tests showed that most people wanted a single 32-ounce bottle of his.”
Pre-orders for the kit will begin on January 4th, and shipping will begin at the end of next month. The company says the product is already in production. You have to understand the logistics of getting here.
Own factory
Perhaps unusually, Cruz has its own factory that manufactures BlenderCaps.
“circleWe rent factory space from a super luxury manufacturer in Shanghai and own all the equipment and robots to build this. So we designed the entire assembly line, but there are more robots than people building this,” he says Adams. “It’s crazy. We have glue application robots, automatic screw dispensers. It’s beautiful. Frankly, it was a little ambitious. And we’re really happy to have our own purpose-built factory building.” .”
As an initial batch, the company has produced 6,000 BlenderCaps and is increasing to keep production going.
All custom. Because it’s not hell. image credit: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
The company claims to be profitable from day one and has started looking at next-generation products. We asked, but the company is less than willing to share the following:
“There’s a secret product out there,” laughs Adams. “Obviously, this battery technology can be applied to many different devices. I’m excited to build. It’s just rebranding the chassis, and just plain junk.We have this design philosophy that we grew up with at Apple, putting our heart and soul into our products, so it’s minimalist and super. There are many products that follow the same philosophy of high-end materials, and you can see the future from there.”
