Dusseldorf After five years of development, the time had come on Tuesday: The Berlin start-up Mitte started selling a device that can be used to personalize water. Mitte Home first filters heavy metals, germs and microplastics out of tap water. Then the water is mineralized with magnesium and calcium and, if desired, carbonated. “We are currently developing an immune booster with zinc,” explains founder Moritz Waldstein. “Additives such as vitamins, iron or soothing CBD from hemp are also conceivable.”
“With Mitte Home we want to decentralize and individualize the water supply,” says Waldstein. Bubblers or water filters have been around for a long time, what has been missing so far is the “iPhone moment for water”. The device wants to create this for currently 349.99 euros: personalized water for 21 to 49 cents a liter. According to Climate Partners, Mitte Home uses 24 times less CO2 and 20 times less plastic than bottled water.
“Consumers are fed up with plastic waste,” says the founder. Market researcher Euromonitor International estimates that 500 billion plastic bottles are produced each year. “That is ecological madness and also not economically efficient.”
Mineral water is increasingly being criticized for plastic waste, often long transport routes and intensive use of springs. More and more consumers are switching to crane water and soda makers. According to the Association of German Mineral Fountains (VDM), sales of mineral and medicinal water fell by 5.1 percent to 9.9 billion liters in 2020. The downward trend intensified in the gastro lockdown. Per capita consumption fell from just under 140 to 132 liters in 2020, 78 percent of which is sparkling water.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The start-up Mitte relies on the “iPhone moment” for soda makers.
Devices that treat and bubble crane water are digging up more and more market shares from mineral fountains. Pepsico subsidiary Sodastream, the industry leader in sparkling wine, is now also facing competition from Philips and Brita, world market leaders in home filters. Vittel bottler Nestlé wants to participate in the future market with a water optimizer for canteens and offices.
Market researchers estimate the world market for bottled water at around 300 billion dollars. Water purifiers not only threaten the business model of corporations like Nestlé or Danone (Volvic, Evian), which sell water from France halfway around the world. The roughly 200 German mineral fountains also state: “We are in competition with manufacturers of sparkling water, which we are by no means shy of,” says VDM chairman Karl Tack.
The association took legal action against water suppliers who had advertised tap water as “healthy” and “the best controlled food”. Mineral wells are not allowed to do this according to the EU Health Claim Regulation and saw themselves at a disadvantage. Tack does not believe in water purifiers: “Treatment of tap water with artificial minerals and additives has nothing to do with natural mineral water and the unique properties of the natural product.”
Beverage manufacturers such as Danone or Bitburger, however, see potential in the technology. Both are invested in the start-up Mitte through their venture companies. Danone sees opportunities especially internationally. Mitte wants to bring its device to the USA in 2022. According to Waldstein, there are still pipes made of lead in 18 million households there, and tap water is mixed with chlorine – Mitte Home significantly reduces both pollutants.
The start-up has received 32 million euros so far, and a further 50 million euros are currently being collected. The device will initially be sold online with the slogan “From own sources”. “Similar to Nespresso,” says Waldstein.
A soda stream in every fifth household
Market leader Sodastream is expanding vigorously – according to mother Pepsico worldwide with strong double-digit growth rates. The beverage company swallowed the Israeli company for $ 3.2 billion in 2018.
The most important market is Germany, where, according to the Federal Gazette, 258 million euros were turned over in 2019. “Around 20 percent of all households in Germany own a soda maker from Sodastream,” says Julian Hessel, Marketing Director for Germany and Austria. A year earlier it was 13 percent. Sodastream calculated the numbers on the basis of sold products, carbonic acid cylinders and refills.
In Germany and Austria alone, 3.3 million single-use plastic bottles were saved in 2020. Sodastream wants to help avoid around 78 billion bottles worldwide by 2025. The growth drivers are original syrups from Pepsi, Seven-Up and Mirinda. After their introduction in March 2020, they were temporarily out of stock in this country.
“This shows not only how relevant the launch of Pepsico syrups was for Sodastream, but also that Sodastream is the driver of the entire syrup category,” says market researcher GfK. According to the IRI, sales of syrup in the industry increased by 44 percent to 166 million euros in 2020.
GfK expects the syrup for Lipton iced tea to give Sodastream a further boost. The self-made soft drinks are priced similar to the originals. For Pepsico a profitable business instead of cannibalization. Competitor Coca-Cola is now also testing syrups from Fanta, Sprite and Mezzo-Mix in Germany – under the slogan: “Mix your original at home.”
Sodastream introduced a new device with Duo in 2021. In addition to glass bottles, this can also bubble up plastic bottles for on the go. However, new carbon dioxide cylinders are required. Customers cannot use cheaper brands. The business with CO2 cartridges is very profitable – similar to coffee capsules or printer cartridges.
Brita, Nestlé and Philips new on the market
The run on sparkling wine attracts new competitors. A year ago, water filter specialist Brita took over Filltech, the second largest producer of CO2 cylinders in Europe, which had previously supplied retail brands. “With the purchase of Filltech we are opening up the very interesting market of soda makers,” said Brita sales manager Rüdiger Kraege: “We are striving to become number two behind the market leader Sodastream.”
In May, the family business, which achieved a record turnover of 617 million euros in 2020, brought the home soda Soda One to German retailers. Brita has long been making water dispensers for restaurants and offices that also bubble up. The multifunctional device Yource is available for private households for just under 1000 euros. It produces chilled, filtered, and bubbly water that comes straight from the tap.
Philips has also entered the business with table filters and home bubblers. The drugstore chain dm has been selling its own Ivorell soda maker since August. And Aldi Nord now offers Aldi Süd’s own brand Sodastar. The bubblers come from the Krüger Group.
This had already taken over the Austrian producer Balanced Life in 2020, which also owns the Sodapop brand. With the Mineralbrunnen Überkingen-Teinach, Sodapop now also sells original syrups for Bluna and Afri Cola – and thus competes with Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
Vittel bottler Nestlé also wants to get into the personalized water business. The refrigerator-sized device Refill + is intended for canteens and offices and is only available in the USA. After filtering, caffeine and minerals can be added – as can sugar-free syrups from mango to cherry. The product is expected to be available in other markets from 2022.
More: Nestlé: why mineral water is becoming obsolete