- Nebia - which was initially backed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt - announced its new Nebia Spa Shower 2.0 on Tuesday.
- The latest version can create 29% warmer temperatures and comes at a more affordable price than the original.
- Cook and Schmidt re-invested in the shower head disrupters, along with North America's largest shower head company Moen, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, Starwood Hotel founder Barry Sternlicht.
- Nebia CEO Phillip Winter tells us that the Apple chief exec has been "incredibly supportive" with their efforts, answering email questions when they "have something that's very strategic."
Nebia, the water-saving shower head company that made a splash in its 2015 Kickstarted debut, is back with a new and improved nozzle.
On Tuesday the company announced its new Nebia Spa Shower 2.0, which it says can create 29% warmer temperatures and comes at a more affordable price. The new $499 shower head (compared to the $649 predecessor), preserves the original elegant, halo-shaped style but is now available in a matte black color, along with the traditional matte silver finish.
Nebia - which counted Apple CEO Tim Cook and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt among its initial backers - launched pre-order sales for the new model on Kickstarter this week. The company has already tripled its $100,000 goal within the first 24 hours, and offered early bird prices for the latest model are as low as $349.
As with the first version, water conservation is the central principle behind the product. Nebia's process of atomization - which breaks up water into tiny droplets - is supposed to create a more enveloping shower experience, all while using 65% less water than standard shower heads.
The company says since first launching in 2015, it has helped save 100 million gallons of water.
Read more: Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt stripped down to try this new kind of shower head and wound up investing
Along with announcing the new product and Kickstarter campaign, Nebia also announced it has raised a Series A funding round for an undisclosed amount, led by North America's largest shower head company Moen.
Phillip Winter, Nebia's co-founder and CEO, told Business Insider in an interview Tuesday that the partnership with Moen is a "three-part deal," that includes assistance with design, manufacturing, and distribution.
"Moen enabled us to get there five times faster," Winter said of Moen's involvement with the 2.0 model.
Other notable investors in the Series A include Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, Starwood Hotel founder Barry Sternlicht, and the startup accelerator Y-Combinator. Eric Schmidt and Tim Cook also re-upped for second investments with the shower head disruptors.
Cook, in particular, has been "incredibly supportive" according to Winter, as the Apple chief exec has particular expertise in the materials that Nebia works with (aluminum).
"When we touch base, it's really when we have important decisions, and we have something that's very strategic," Winter said. "We don't just ping him unless it's something really important. He takes one or two days to respond to the email, and then he sends back six or seven paragraphs of a super thoughtful response."