i3 - July/August 2018 - 30

Policy

By Elliot Grimm

FAC E S O F I N N OVAT I O N

LifeFuel CEO and Founder
Jonathon Perrelli

hether working at the
office or biking down
rugged trails, keeping
your body hydrated and full of
nutrition can be a challenge.
Fortunately, LifeFuels has created a simple, fun way to stay
hydrated to fit your lifestyle.
Led by Jonathon Perrelli, the
Northern Virginia startup
engineers a line of smart
devices that empower consumers to create and track personalized beverages.
Q How did LifeFuels get started?
A Hydration and nutrition are a struggle for

most people; the sheer amount of information available, and the often-contradictory
advice when it comes to dietary choices is
overwhelming. I first confronted this challenge almost a decade ago after witnessing

a family member struggling to manage their
hydration and nutrition while pregnant.
There was no solution on the market that
would help them accurately monitor what
they were consuming, and help them understand how it was linked to their exercise and
lifestyle. After years of tinkering with ways
to dose out precise servings of nutrients,
my co-founder Rob Lawson-Shanks and
I unveiled the LifeFuels Bottle, a portable
beverage maker that enables consumers to
create great-tasting, functional beverages
on the go, tailored to match their lifestyle.

Q Was exhibiting at CES valuable for

your company?
A LifeFuels has extensively leveraged CES as
a platform for market validation, engaging
with consumers and developing partnerships. This can be risky for an early-stage
company, due to the expense involved.
However, by being budget-conscious, and
taking full advantage of every minute at the
show, we have seen phenomenal results. This
ranges from key partnerships with some of
the biggest names in beverage, technology

LifeFuels has extensively
leveraged CES as a platform
for market validation, engaging with consumers and
developing partnerships.

and manufacturing, to dozens of media articles/interviews, and thousands of sign-ups
to our waitlist. But the outcome that we love
to highlight is our series A investment from
Keurig Green Mountain, which was closed
in April of this year. Executives from Keurig
Green Mountain found our booth at CES on
the first day of the show, and after a great
initial conversation began coming back every
subsequent day with an ever-growing group.

Q How will your partnership with Keurig
Green Mountain help LifeFuels?

A We have had the opportunity to explore

partnerships with a number of food and
beverage companies over the last few years,
but it's never been the right fit. LifeFuels
spans several product categories: consumer electronics, food and beverage, and
software. This presents a truly unique set
of challenges and requires finding partners
with the right experience. As one executive
from a beverage brand explained, "What
we really bring to the table is decades of
mistakes that we can leverage to educate
you." Unlike most food and beverage
brands, Keurig Green Mountain has an
incredible amount of experience in both
consumer electronics and the beverage
space. With their support, we can tackle
the challenges we face head-on, and truly
create and define a new product category.

Q What has being located in Northern Virginia meant for your company?

A We couldn't imagine starting anywhere

else. Virginia is home to some of the nation's
top colleges and the talent pool for technology is exactly what we need. The area is also
home to a wide swath of companies, from
the North America headquarters of automakers like Audi to industry leading finance/technology companies such as Capital One. This
allows us to build partnerships across industries and find experienced engineers and
developers looking for new challenges. We
would of course be remiss if we didn't mention that CTA is also local! They have been a
great resource for us, and for the technology
community throughout the region.
30

JULY/AUGUST 2018

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

https://www.lifefuels.co/

i3 - July/August 2018

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