expansion, the business has turned to equity crowdfunding on Birchal – and met its initial target in a little over three hours.  “This is our fifth crowdfunding campaign. We’re very intertwined with our customers, and we want them to help us build the direction of the business moving forward,” Memobottle co-founder Jesse Leeworthy told Inside Retail.  “We always try to stay really close to our customer, and we do a lot of surveys and research to find out what they want, and they’ve told us a few things: they want a lunch box, they want a bag range, and a sling, and all sorts of stuff. “We’ve had such a great, loyal customer for the last eight years, but we’ve really only had the one offering – so we’re looking to give them what they want with these additional products, and help them to live a more reusable lifestyle.” Evolving beyond Kickstarter For fellow Memobottle co-founder Jonathan Byrt, it’s the right time for the business to explore new avenues and give customers a piece of its success while doing so. In 2014, the brand crowdfunded its initial concept on Kickstarter, in which consumers essentially fund a product’s creation, and get a product out of it at the end. Now, Memobottle is crowdfunding on Birchal, an equity crowdfunding service which allows people to invest in businesses. This time, rather than getting a product at the end, investors will get fully paid ordinary shares in the company, priced at AU$14.44 each. “I think, for some people, it’s hard to see where a water bottle brand can go,” Byrt told Inside Retail.  “And that’s a big goal of ours: to create and share the vision as to where Memobottle is going.” The first product from the brand’s new range will be a tote bag. It will act as the centrepiece of the new range, with pockets designed to fit an A5 lunch box, an A7 coffee cup and one of the business’ water bottles. “We’ve got a few other things in the pipeline as well,” Leeworthy said. “Everything will keep to our minimal, functional aesthetic. We sort of border on the fashion category as well – you don’t see many water bottles become a fashion accessory – and we’ll stick to the slim profile of the products, so that they can fit neatly into our lives and in our bags.” Expanding the range Moving forward, the pair believe there is a huge opportunity for Memobottle to create reusable alternatives for many single-use products people use every day.  “We want to create a more convenient alternative than what is currently out there, in the same design language that our business is already known for,” Byrt said.  And while the business has always had a direct-to-consumer presence, which has been supplemented by selling in physical retailers across the world, Memobottle’s online presence has become a much larger part of its offer since the pandemic.  “It’s been a constant learning experience, and the trends show that it’s just going to continue growing,” Byrt said.  Even within its B2B business, in which its products are sold by other retailers, Memobottle is seeing more of a move online, with marketplaces around the world wanting to stock the business’ letter-sized bottles.