Startup pledges to 'deliver a cup of coffee's worth of energy in just three sprays'
Summary
The past two-and-a-half years have been a roller-coaster ride for the founders of VAE Labs, but today the pre-revenue CPG company has some good news: a $2 million seed round that will help boost its sprayable caffeine device into the commercial market.Draper Associates led the investment and was joined by Midnight Venture Partners and Cartograph Ventures. Bogdan touts the device as delivering a cup of coffees worth of energy in just three sprays.The trio, who were studying neuroscience chemistry at the time, got the idea for the spray after realizing their usual way of caffeinating themselves to study during college was not the healthiest: they found out their preferred coffee brands the ones they were consuming multiple times on a daily basis were delivering double the caffeine and about 30 grams of sugar in each cup.We found ourselves in this really bad cycle of getting way too over-caffeinated, only to completely crash, Bogdan told TechCrunch. We were just kind of done with feeling so terrible all the time.In their search for alternative energy drinks and supplements, it was difficult to find something that not only didnt have the sugar and chemicals, but was also convenient to carry. And with our technology and portability, we feel it is the best energy supplement on the market since its the fastest-acting and most convenient.You might be asking yourself how caffeine might be considered healthy, and when asked to explain, Bogdan said that the VAE Energy Spray, which comes in icy mint and mango flavors, has zero calories and its core ingredients are based on the key ingredients of matcha, using amino acids L-theanine and L-tyrosine.He went on to say that those ingredients have some really synergistic effects with caffeine, so that instead of the typical boost of energy and a big crash later, there is more focused energy due to the L-tyrosine, which helps with focus, and L-theanine, which helps with the negative effects of caffeine.VAE Labs is not the only one with this vision: Pzaz created a breath spray with zero calories and caffeine, also.In 2020, VAE Labs launched its device in an Indiegogo campaign, going after $10,000 and ended up raising over $55,000, Bogdan said. What excites us about the future is that we realized, after working on our first products, that our technology can advance much further and eventually apply to other supplements as well whether thats fast-tracking melatonin to get better quality of sleep, CBD for instant relaxation or just vitamins for general health.