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Re:

Ooho’s Edible Water Spheres Didn’t Become a Bottle Replacement. Notpla Pivoted—and Still Uses Them

Ooho was deployed at events, including the 2019 London Marathon, but it did not become a mass-market bottle replacement. Notpla broadened into other packaging products while continuing to describe Ooho for selected uses.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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Ooho did not become a mass-market replacement for bottled water, but it was not simply abandoned. Notpla, the company behind the edible seaweed-based liquid membrane, broadened its work into other packaging products while continuing to present Ooho for selected event and liquid applications. The distinction is between a memorable product concept and the challenge of building a scalable business around it.

What Ooho was—and what it was not

Ooho is a small edible membrane made from seaweed-based materials that holds a portion of liquid. Notpla’s account traces its prototype to 2013, when founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier developed the idea at Imperial College. It was not a conventional bottled-water product with an established consumer retail distribution system.

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) says the team applied for a patent on the edible capsule, and that the Ooho trademark was assigned in 2017. Notpla’s company history dates creation of the first Ooho machine to 2018. Those milestones show development beyond an initial prototype, but they do not establish mass retail adoption.

Ooho reached real events, including the London Marathon

Ooho did move from demonstration to use in a named public event. Notpla and the IPO identify the 2019 London Marathon as a deployment with Lucozade. The IPO reports that 36,000 Ooho capsules were used in place of single-use cups and bottles at the event.

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That is evidence of a substantial event deployment, not proof that Ooho could replace bottles across ordinary retail or everyday hydration. The contexts differ: an organized event can test a defined use with a specific partner, while a mass-market bottle alternative would need a broader route to customers and repeat supply. The sources cited here do not establish sales, profitability, unit economics, or consumer-retail availability.

Notpla’s current Ooho page describes liquid pods for sports and food uses and names other races and events. The company continues to present Ooho as an application, rather than describing it as a discontinued product. The IPO’s 2024 interview with co-founder Pierre Paslier captures the original use case: “We started with an edible capsule that can contain water or different liquids that can be used for hydrating marathon runners and at festivals.”

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Why the company widened its focus

The business challenge was broader than making a sphere that could hold liquid. An event deployment and a packaging business integrated into routine food-service supply are different commercial settings. Notpla’s company history describes how the Ooho approach led to a seaweed coating for takeaway containers after Just Eat challenged the team to find a plastic-free box solution.

The chronology reflects that widening of emphasis: Notpla lists takeaway boxes launched with Just Eat in 2022 and Notpla Paper launched with G.F. Smith in 2023. These are distinct packaging applications, not evidence that Ooho itself became a bottle replacement. The pivot was an expansion of the company’s packaging work, not a demonstrated transfer of Ooho into everyday retail.

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Notpla’s portfolio now spans more than edible liquid capsules

Notpla’s current product and application pages distinguish products it presents as available from prototypes and applications still in development. Its portfolio includes food containers, rigid cutlery and paper as well as liquid packaging. The company’s orientation is largely toward business and packaging applications, rather than selling Ooho as a consumer water product.

That broader portfolio helps explain what “pivoted” means here: Notpla applied its materials and packaging work to several formats instead of relying on edible water spheres alone. It does not, by itself, establish that the newer lines are profitable or that the pivot caused later company growth.

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What the evidence does—and does not—say about success

BGR’s 20 August 2022 headline says Ooho “didn’t pan out” and frames the company as seeking other ways to cut plastic waste. That wording is best understood as a judgment about the early ambition for Ooho as a broad plastic-bottle alternative—not as evidence that the product was shut down. Notpla still describes Ooho and selected uses for it.

Notpla’s 2025 article says its Ooho story received 50 million social-media views. That is a company-reported attention figure, not a sales total, adoption measure, or independent audience audit. The company has also used promotional language about being ready to replace single-use plastic at scale; that is an ambition, not independent verification of production capacity or market impact.

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Notpla describes its materials and products in terms of biodegradability and environmental benefits. Those are company claims; the available sources do not provide a controlled comparison of cost, life-cycle impact, or performance across Ooho and the company’s other packaging applications. Nor does a product description establish that a film or coating will be recyclable or compostable in every local waste system.

How to read the Ooho pivot

Application Deployment context What is established
Ooho liquid capsules Events and selected sports or food uses The IPO and Notpla identify a 2019 London Marathon deployment with Lucozade; the IPO reports 36,000 capsules used in place of single-use cups and bottles. Notpla continues to describe Ooho for selected applications.
Takeaway-container coating Food-service packaging supply chain Notpla says the idea followed a Just Eat challenge and lists takeaway boxes launched with Just Eat in 2022.
Notpla Paper Paper packaging application Notpla lists a 2023 launch with G.F. Smith.

The available evidence supports a story of an ambitious product that found documented event uses, alongside a company that widened its packaging focus. It does not support a quantified claim that Ooho failed financially, that it was discontinued, or that the pivot produced a particular level of commercial success.

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