Product Hunt Daily - $9M for water

It appears people will pay for, well, water. It was just announced that Liquid Death, the company that uses inventive, heavy metal-influenced packaging to sell canned water, raised $9 million from investors. 💦 A little history: We first noticed Liquid Death about a year ago when the canned water brand debuted on Product Hunt. The company cans mountain water from the Austrian Alps in response to fears around contaminated water and pollution, and uses aluminum cans for its water (sold at $18.99 for a 12-pack) since it’s vastly more recyclable than plastic bottles. Since then, the brand has utilized the tagline “Death to Plastic” to promote a sustainable cause — for every can sold, Liquid Death will donate 5 cents to help clean up plastic pollution. As for the reason behind Liquid Death’s punk rock branding, founder Mike Cessario says that he simply wanted to make a healthy product that was provocative. “In my past life as an ad agency creative director, I was always perplexed by the strict rules that brands and CPG products create for themselves,” Cessario wrote on Product Hunt. “Why is it completely ok for a horror movie product to have blood and gore and profanity and make $250 million? Or why can a rapper like Eminem make some of the all-time highest grossing music products filled with controversial awesomeness? But then CPG products, like beverages, all have to play by 1950's rules and be safe, boring, corporate, functional, rational, and appeal to absolutely everyone? All we wanted to do with Liquid Death was to make a CPG product that gets to play by entertainment product rules. Why not? There's a reason why people have such a deep passion and love for entertainment products, probably more so than almost anything else. And more specifically, we wanted to make a healthy product that is provocative and hilarious in a world where only unhealthy brands like energy drinks, soda, beer, candy, and fast food get to have all the fun.“ But beyond branding, people genuinely seem to love canned water. A few reviews from the PH community: “Amazing design and idea. Can't believe it has taken this long to get canned water to be a thing in the mainstream.” - Ally  “I figured its just water in a can but I'm hooked, love this stuff.” -  Laurence With the new funding, the company plans to expand into more physical stores, starting with Whole Foods next month. 👀