15:34 | 30.04.15 | Articles | exclusive 10015

Coffee and selfie with the same mug

Yecup Armenian startup is a thermo mug managed with a smartphone.

Talking to Itel.am, Yecup founder, Russia-based Vigen Sanayan said that mobile app helps increase or preserve the temperature of the liquid in the mug and take a selfie pressing a special button on the mug.

When the temperature of coffee or tea in the mug rises, the smartphone gets a notification about it.

According to Vigen Sanahyan, he came up with the idea of creating a thermo mug a few months ago.

“Studying the thermo mugs in the market we thought we could change them making more modern and innovative. We started seeking professionals in Saint Petersburg, and now there are 4 people in our team”, he said.

Vigen Sanahyan is currently in Yerevan and he jointly works with Gallery Technology Armenian company to improve the mug. The mobile app for using the thermo mug is now being tested among 1000 people. It will be included on the AppStore and Google Play in about 2 months. They're also going to develop a special app for Apple Watch.

Yecup will soon launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise further funds.

''Such mugs are not produced anywhere yet and if we start mass production we will need considerable financial resources. By the way, people who will donate $175- the price for our mug- will get a thermo mug once the mass production is launched'', noted Vigen Sanahyan.

Yecup come in different colors, and will be sold in different sizes as well in future.

The thermo mug is charged through a USB or a special charger. At the same time, the charger will fit in iPhone as well.

According to Vigen Sanahyan, the startup now doesn't seek for other investors as they don't see the need for involving new shareholders.

Narine Daneghyan