Sensible water bottle-maker Larq this week introduced that it has been acquired by filtration big, Brita. Extra particularly, Brita GmbH, the German firm based in 1966, which spun off and bought its North/South American wing to Clorox in 1988.

Brita GmbH maintains the model in the remainder of the world, however it presently is barred from promoting merchandise beneath its personal model title within the Americas. Amongst different issues, this acquisition gives the company a transparent reentry level into the previous market beneath an present — if not broadly recognized — model.

Bay Space-based Larq, which was based in late-2017, is finest recognized for its line of sensible water bottles, which make the most of a UV gentle constructed into the cap with a purpose to scale back the micro organism that accumulates contained in the darkish, damp object. The corporate has since expanded to a water pitcher, which mixes the UV gentle with an ordinary water filtration extra in step with what we’ve come to anticipate from Brita.

“They wanted to expand back into North America on their B2C side,” Larq founder and CEO Justin Wang tells TechCrunch. “Larq provided a natural extension of that, geographically. But also, from a premiumization and digital transformation perspective, that business is traditionally 70-80% offline. They’re in the process of doing a major digital transformation and we’re exactly the opposite. Seventy to 80% is online for us.”

Larq’s retail footprint is modest, with its product out there in ~1,000 brick and mortar shops. Whereas it presently has no footprint within the U.S., Brita GmbH has each big attain within the worldwide market and the form of retail experience that will get its foot within the door. Larq, in the meantime, could be spearheading on-line gross sales efforts.

Brita U.S. (Clorox) will stay the elephant on this particular room for the foreseeable future, however the firm’s one-time father or mother is gearing up for an fascinating battle — one wherein it could actually’t use its personal ubiquitous title.

Wang believes that each Larq and its new father or mother have the higher hand when it comes to innovation, nonetheless.

“I think Clorox fundamentally runs that business more as a cash cow,” he says. “That’s what they do. Clorox acquires businesses, expands their footprint on store shelves and they squeeze every dollar they can out of it. Germany has depended more on innovating filters and their business models.”

Larq will keep its present product portfolio, whereas seeking to broaden its choices in ways in which marry its expertise with Brita. That may seemingly entail a continued give attention to issues like app connectivity and hydration monitoring.