HOW THE TWO AUSSIE MEMOBOTTLE FOUNDERS RAISED $300K IN 48 HOURS TO CHANGE THE LUNCHBOX GAME

The Kim Kardashian-loved brand is back again.

MELBOURNE, Australia, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten years ago, Memobottle revolutionised the way the world saw reusable water bottles, by creating the very first flat, paper-sized water bottles. 

Memobottle co-founders Jesse Leeworthy and Jonathan Byrt had a vision to inspire a more sustainable society through everyday conscious design. The result was a viral, award-winning creation that propelled the brand into overnight success and set the design community ablaze. 

Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength, with a massive 400% growth over the past two years and generating over $10 million in revenue. That's not the only million milestone Memobottle has achieved, with the company officially hitting one million products sold in 2024, in more than 100 countries – and counting. 

From the memobottle being included in the highly coveted gift bags at the 88th Academy Awards, to brand activations at the F1 Grand Prix and Australian Open tennis tournament, and the likes of Kim Kardashian and Anne Hathaway taking to social media to gush about the product, Memobottle's journey has been star-studded and filled with once-in-a-lifetime moments. 

But at the heart of Memobottle is a story of friendship, determination, and the desire to make a positive difference in the world. Childhood friends Leeworthy and Byrt both hail from a small coastal town in Melbourne, Australia, where they saw firsthand the adverse impact single-use plastic bottles had on the environment – and went to work on a solution. 

Their business journey began when Leeworthy showed an early design of the memobottle to Byrt. Even though they were living in different countries at the time (Leeworthy in Australia, and Byrt in the USA), both realised the game-changing potential of the memobottle, and worked to create a product to launch on Kickstarter.

In the earlier days, they took on all the design, marketing, and administration duties, packed their backpacks and set off to pitch the memobottle to retailers worldwide, and even wound up spending five weeks on the Taiwanese production line, working alongside the factory workers.

Even with all the success Memobottle has achieved since, it's never been just about becoming stylish staples in work totes, school bags, and jacket pockets. For Memobottle, it's also about how their products and business can help improve lives. 

"Our philosophy is to be a disruptive force by way of design and impact. The memobottle's unique design makes it the perfect reusable alternative that seamlessly and conveniently fits wherever you need it to – consequently, disrupting the reliance on single-use water bottles," says Byrt.

To date, Memobottle has prevented the consumption and waste of an estimated 200 million disposable bottles. They are also a proud partner of not-for-profit organisation Water.org, where every memobottle sold provides one person in need with five months' access to safe water access, with a phenomenal 33 million days logged so far.

Now, the certified B Corporation and winner of B Lab's Best For The World program is embracing its next challenge: expanding into a reusable lifestyle brand by applying their disruptive design philosophy to other everyday essentials.

"As a business proudly built from the support of crowdfunders, we've always tailored our products to solve inconveniences our community faces with their everyday items. We started with our favourite time of the day – lunch – and reimagined the humble lunchbox to create a trailblazing solution that will change the way you prep and pack lunch," says Leeworthy. 

memobento™ by Memobottle is an innovative new lunchbox that lets you pre-pack all your lunches for the week ahead of time – with just one lunchbox. The product launched on Kickstarter in early May, and made a thunderous arrival on the crowdfunding platform. 

The campaign was fully funded in minutes, and the surrounding buzz catapulted it straight to the top of Kickstarter's Most Popular Projects. Within three hours, the project raised over $100,000 in pledges and has kept going ever since. So far, almost 2,000 pre-orders have come through from all over the world, thanks to long-time fans of the brand and those looking for a cutting-edge solution to all their lunchbox prep, packing, and cleaning grievances.

"We've been thrilled to see how excited the public's been over our brand expansion, and the incredible support shown for the memobento campaign. We have spent the past decade perfecting our craft with memobottle, and memobento is just the beginning of an exciting range of products to come," says Leeworthy.

View the memobento campaign here.

Lookbook and Gallery

memobento lookbook and images are available here.

memobento Kickstarter campaign

View the campaign here

About Memobottle™

Memobottle is a creative initiative and certified B Corporation based in Melbourne, Australia. We aim to challenge how society thinks about single-use consumption, and to educate about the environmental costs of our modern conveniences. memobottle's paper-inspired design allows it to sit flat against laptops, books, and anything else you might carry. Every memobottle provides someone in need with five months of safe water access, thanks to our partnership with Water.org.

Learn more at memobottle.com.