Coolest Cooler Now Gains $5M in Funding After Failure on First Release

The Coolest Cooler is the latest Kickstarter superstar, as it has already reached over $5 million in funding. With only 45 days left, this awesome piece of innovation belonged into Kickstarter's top 5 must-funded projects.

Before it became one of the biggest crowdfunding campaigns of the year, the Coolest Cooler was a Kickstarter failure. Creator Ryan Grepper from Portland, Oregon, first launched the Coolest Cooler in November with a goal of securing $125,000. However, he fell short and finish with $102,188 in pledges. The high-tech cooler comes with integrated features like full-sized portable blender, speakers, LED light under the lid and a bottle opener.

In one of his interviews, Grepper said that the Coolest Cooler was first introduced in the middle of winter, which is somehow a dumb idea since no one has been thinking about needing to use a cooler during that time, regardless of what features they have.

However, Grepper did not seem to lose hope. He reworked the design and decided to release it on a more cooler-friendly time.

The second coming of the Coolest Cooler retains most of the features of the original. It also boasts removable Bluetooth speakers that are waterproof, an USB charger, cooler divider and cutting board, among other options. A minimum contribution of $185 secures a Cooler after funding is completed next month.

The Coolest sells for $299 on the Kickstarter page. It may sound like the cost of many beers, but if you order it through the Kickstarter campaign, you can get it for only $185. More than 23,000 people have already pledged enough money to buy one. Obviously, big cooler brands like Coleman and Igloo missed the mark on this one.

With just over $5,000,000 in funding and 45 days left, the Coolest is about to eclipse Reading Rainbow's funding level and is closing in on the Veronica Mars movie and Neil Young's Pono Music player.