Stojo is raising on a Crowd SAFE at a $13 million valuation with no discount. While Stojo’s significant revenue traction merits this valuation, the lack of discount at this early stage in the company’s journey reflects a poor price for prospective investors. Therefore, Stojo’s price rating is the company’s lowest among our five metrics.

Stojo is primarily attacking the market for reusable water bottles and reusable coffee cups via its current products. The global reusable water bottle market is decent-sized — it’s estimated at $8.1 billion in 2018 with a projected CAGR of 3.9% from 2019 to 2025. The market’s moderate growth is attributed to consumers’ heightened interest in reusable and sustainable products, a trend that Stojo leans into explicitly. 

The reusable coffee cup market is more niche and therefore smaller — roughly $1.3 billion according to a 2020 estimate, with a 3.1% CAGR over the next six years. However, a portion of this market estimate seems to be composed of coffee containers for the restaurant market, which is not relevant to Stojo. 

In sum, Stojo’s current product lines serve a total market size of roughly $9.5 billion. Realistically, Stojo has the potential to capture a maximum of 5% of this market in coming years, for an obtainable market size of roughly $475 million. This market size is lower than that of many early-stage companies, as reflected in Stojo’s relatively weak market score. 

Stojo was founded by Jurrien Swarts, a dad who reports that his primary motivation for founding the company was to secure a sustainable future for his children. Swarts has spent many years in finance, in roles at Credit Suisse and GCM Grosvenor. He also spent four years operating a farm in Vermont. Swarts holds a B.A. in Chinese from Dartmouth College and also studied at Tunghai University in China, a background that is undoubtedly helpful in expanding Stojo’s presence in Asia. 

Stojo’s team also includes professionals from a number of leading consumer brands, including (MALIN+GOETZ), Warby Parker, Marks & Spencer, and Tory Burch. Stojo’s team score is relatively high given CEO Swarts’s business background and the broader team’s expertise in consumer products and retail.

Stojo focuses its own discussion of differentiation on other reusable water bottles like HydroFlask, Contigo, and S’Well. While Stojo is indeed differentiated from these brands because its products are foldable and compact — not stainless steel or hard plastic and bulky — Stojo faces more direct competition from other makers of foldable beverage containers. 

Several companies produce flexible plastic canteens that can be rolled up to be even smaller than Stojo bottles. These reusable water bottles are cheap and widely available. Que, a company with a similar stated focus on product design and sustainability, also offers a collapsible water bottle that folds to a similar size as Stojo products. 

While Stojo holds at least one patent on its collapsible designs, there are simply many ways to create a foldable and compact beverage container. Stojo faces competition from a wide variety of beverage and food storage brands. Therefore the company’s differentiation score is relatively low. 

Stojo has generated over $14 million in lifetime revenue since launching in early 2018. The company generated almost $2.8 million in revenue during that first year of operation (an impressive figure for any early-stage company) and grew to $6.6 million in revenue during 2019. Stojo has not presented 2020 financials. However, the company’s founder indicated in the Republic question forum that he expects to generate over $7 million this year. Stojo has a clear path to profitability and enjoyed a profitable quarter in Q4 2019. Last year saw a net loss of $430,928. 

These performance metrics are particularly notable given that Stojo has raised only $1 million (from The Seed Lab and WeWork). Stojo’s early traction is impressive — particularly for a consumer products company — which is reflected in its near-perfect score on performance.

Stojo faces stiff competition from a wide variety of water bottle makers — whether the trendy stainless steel options from S’Well and HydroFlask or the collapsible alternatives from Que and other sellers. Consumers have a wide variety of choices for reusable water bottles, and many might not even be looking for another one. Reusable water bottles are almost ubiquitous these days, and few consumers have a need for more than a few. That’s why the market for reusable water bottles (and coffee cups) is relatively small and growing only a bit each year. 

While Stojo has won an audience of loyal customers, the lifetime value of those customers is low. Few are likely to buy multiple Stojo containers as the years go on. While the company has generated solid traction, there’s a chance that Stojo has little room to grow.

While competitors in the collapsible water bottle market space do exist, there are fewer name-brand options within that niche than there are among stainless steel and hard plastic water bottles. Stojo is clearly differentiated from these stainless steel makers and can offer a clear value proposition of space savings that does not apply to those brands. As the next wave of consumers looks to transition to reusable water bottles, Stojo may be more attractive to them than bulkier options. 

Moreover, Stojo is on the verge of launching expanded product lines — including a set of containers made from recycled ocean plastic. The use of recycled ocean plastic is a trend right now, particularly among millennial and Gen-Z consumers. The launch of that product line may expand Stojo’s customer base.

Stojo’s foldable, compact water bottles are reducing the use of single-use water bottles, and the company’s upcoming line of upcycled ocean plastic bottles will only do more to conserve the environment. Stojo’s bottles are well-designed and have garnered a satisfied and loyal customer base. The company has over $14 million in lifetime revenue to show for it. 

On the other hand, Stojo competes with a wide landscape of reusable water bottle manufacturers within a market that is relatively small. Stojo’s products are relatively inexpensive, and customers are unlikely to buy more than one or two. Therefore, Stojo has been rated a Neutral Deal. 

For questions regarding the KingsCrowd staff pick or ratings for this company, please reach out to [email protected]. 

Analysis written by Katy Dolan.