air up Flavour Bottle

Key numbers

The product

air up is a reusable bottle that flavours plain water through scent alone: a pod clipped near the mouthpiece releases aroma that reaches the nose retronasally as you sip, so the brain perceives apple, peach or cola while you drink pure, sugar-free water. It targets health-conscious teens and young adults who dislike plain water, with no sugar, sweeteners or additives.

How they did it

Founded in Munich in 2018 by five co-founders, air up grew out of Lena Jungst's product-design thesis on retronasal olfaction. After more than 200 prototypes, the first run of 80,000 bottle-and-pod sets sold out in Germany in under six weeks, mostly to 18-34 year olds. The company expanded across Europe and into the US, raised over €60M including backing from PepsiCo, and reported about €160M in revenue for 2022. Scent pods create recurring consumable revenue, and by early 2024 the company had sold more than five million bottles across 14 markets.

Why it worked

• A genuinely novel mechanism: flavour through scent, zero sugar
• Consumable pods created recurring revenue, not one-off sales
• DTC from day one, then expansion into retail
• Strong viral and social appeal among teens