Lupe Technology

Idea

Introduction

Nearly every home has a vacuum cleaner, and there has been a recent "paradigm shift" towards cordless vacuuming.

But there have been many voiced frustrations amongst consumers about the suction performance and battery life, along with low satisfaction for how long they last.

Lupe is solving this problem with the Pure Cordless. Which we think is the best vacuum cleaner the market has ever seen.

Based on our patented technology, the Pure Cordless has outstanding power and battery life compared to the competition.

See what this means in a real-world, head-to-head test of endurance with a large area of dust and a single battery (video link available on request):

The Pure Cordless is the first of many products from our new brand that we see as becoming known for hygiene and longevity. Both of which, we now think more than ever, are at the front of consumers minds.

Intended impact

Lucas Horne and Pablo Montero founded Lupe in 2015 with the vision to solve the frustrations they saw consumers were having with cordless vacuum cleaners that were failing to deliver on expectations, both on performance and longevity.

We met working in R&D at Dyson. Together we were technically in charge of a major project to make a vacuum cleaner that was many times better than other products at the time. We learnt a great deal about what a vacuum cleaner needs to do and what makes it last.

Following our time at Dyson, we went our separate ways but saw that the problem with cordless vacuums’ poor suction and built-in obsolescence went unaddressed.

Lupe was founded, and through many hundreds of prototypes and testing, our team developed the patented Suction Intensifier technology to pick up dust more efficiently, and the unique Lupe Pure Cordless platform to carry it.

Our patented technology yields almost double the useful suction of a flagship competitor, with longer runtime.

Substantial accomplishments to date

2015:

The business went full-time with the award of an InnovateUK Grant. We have been developing the Pure Cordless since.

2017:

We completed a Seed Round of funding in 2017, taking on board an Early Stage VC, and winning a further InnovateUK Grant.

2018:

Our cornerstone patent was granted and a second round of fundraising was completed. We also engaged with our chosen mass production manufacturing partner.

2019:

We completed the biggest ever crowdfunded vacuum cleaner campaign in beating campaigns run by the Chinese giant, Xiaomi.

We were featured in many press channels:

And won a design award:

We also secured a soft loan from InnovateUK.

Recruited Commercial Director, Hamish Barclay, and employed Head of Marketing Yasmin Ross.

2020:

Secured first trade orders. Ordered first mass-production run.

First production run scheduled to launch in July.

Monetisation strategy

Our business model is very simple: we will make better consumer products and aim to sell at strong margin.

We intend to re-invest profits into growing market share in the floorcare sector, as well as developing products in new verticals to establish the brand.

We will focus initally on direct B2C to control the brand and position. We have a new e-commerce site in development, and a logistics partner that covers the supply chain from factory gate to customer door.

The aim is for content, PR and digital marketing to drive sales growth on the direct channel. We have familiar partners from Kickstarter ready to help us when we go to the mainstream.

With price and traction established, we plan to approach high-street majors to scale volume.

UK will be main focus for sales but the opportunity is global and we’re already in discussion with many overseas distributors.

The cordless floorcare market has grown rapidly so we will focus on leveraging the Pure Cordless before launching new products.

Use of proceeds

The business has secured over £1.8m of funding to date, between director loans, government grants and soft loans, equity investors and pre-order sales.

This takes us to the point of mass production for the mainstream. The funds from this round will be deployed primarily on marketing spend and stock, but also on staffing and business overheads according to the following percentages: