South Korean food tech startup Egnis has launched a new brand of canned water with a resealable lid, catering to the needs of environment-conscious consumers in the local drinking water market still dominated by plastic bottle brands.

The company announced the launch of four canned water products under the brand name of CLOOP during a press conference held on Thursday in Seoul. The canned water comes in four varieties: two still water with apple and peach flavors and two sparkling with lemon and shine muscat flavors.

Egnis claims it can sell canned products with a patented resealable lid in Korea under its exclusive deal with Germany’s Xolution, a manufacturer of resealable beverage cans.

Food companies can contribute to environment protection by making changes to packaging, said Egnis CEO Park Chan-ho, adding aluminum cans have a recycling rate of more than 75 percent versus PET bottles with only 7 percent.

CLOOP’s potential rivals include premium bottled water Evian from France’s Danone and carbonated water Trevi from Korea’s Lotte Chilsung. Egnis plans to expand its product range to include zero-calorie sodas, energy drinks and beer. The market price of a 500ml CLOOP can is set at 2,000 won ($1.58) higher than Evian (1,600 won) and Trevi (1,800 won) in the same capacity.

Egnis drew attention by launching Labnosh, a meal replacement food brand in 2015, and is steadily expanding its product lineup. Labnosh sales came to about 5 billion won last year. The company has so far attracted 15.4 billion won in financing and plans to raise more in a series B round in the second half of this year prior to its planned IPO in 2024.

By Song Kyung-eun and Minu Kim

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