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Nebia wants to revolutionize the shower experience, making it better and more efficient in every way.
Nebia
Would you spend $400 on a shower head?
Probably not. But this isn't any ordinary shower head — this is a Nebia, a shower system that's been backed by some pretty powerful players, including startup seed fund Y Combinator, Google chairman Eric Schmidt's Family Foundation, and even Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was the company's first angel investor.
Nebia's Kickstarter page for the shower head went live on Monday night. And as of Tuesday morning, it's already surpassed — even doubled — its $100,000 goal.
Nebia CEO Philip Winter explained why the Nebia shower head is so special in its Kickstarter video and in an interview with Venturebeat.
Nebia cofounder Carlos Gomez Andonaegui was concerned that his fitness club was using too much water. So he and his father Emilio set out to find a solution.
Kickstarter/Nebia
Together with Philip Winter, the team spent five years working on dozens of prototypes to make a more efficient shower head.
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Nebia says over 500 people have tried its shower head, including Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt.
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Nebia uses advanced nozzle technologies to change the size and distribution of water droplets, atomizing streams of water into millions of tiny droplets to cover a much bigger surface area at a fraction of the volume.
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Americans take roughly eight minutes to shower, on average. With a traditional shower, that's over 20 gallons of water. With Nebia, it's only 6 gallons — that's 70% less water.
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Nebia is easy to install. You unscrew your existing shower and screw on Nebia with a wrench, some plumber's tape, and an included adhesive. You don't need to hire a plumber or break tiles.
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Nebia is also highly adjustable. It slides up and down a couple of feet, pivots at an angle, and includes a portable wand you can position wherever you choose.
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Nebia's team consists of engineers, designers and thermofluids experts. The shower head will be manufactured in the US.
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Nebia plans to retail the shower head at $399, with shipping expected to begin May 2016. You can save money on your purchase by pre-ordering through Kickstarter.
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Nebia believes it can help water conservation efforts. The startup challenged California Gov. Jerry Brown and other leaders of drought-stricken areas to install Nebia showers in their homes.
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On Tim Cook's involvement, Nebia's CEO told VentureBeat, "He's an incredibly thoughtful person and he's been incredibly helpful for us. He's an environmentalist at heart."
