Morning

Morning operates as a coffee technology ecosystem, centered around bringing specialty coffee experiences into the home with convenience. The company was conceived in 2018 and officially launched in mid-2021 by co-founders Leon Foo, Andre Chanco, and Bowen Chiou. Foo is a veteran in Singapore's coffee scene, having established PPP Coffee (formerly Papa Palheta) in 2009 and the iconic café Chye Seng Huat Hardware. His journey began in equity research before his curiosity about coffee led him to build a business around it. Chanco, originally from the Philippines, started his coffee career at Foo's Papa Palheta before founding Yardstick Coffee in Manila. Chiou was running his family's manufacturing business in Taiwan, producing precision coffee equipment for other prominent brands, when he met Foo and was compelled by the vision for Morning.

The company's business model revolves around an integrated system: the sale of their proprietary coffee machine, a marketplace for coffee capsules from global specialty roasters, and a companion mobile app. Revenue is generated through the direct sale of the Morning Machine and from the online marketplace that features a curated selection of coffee pods from over 60 roasters. This creates a direct-to-consumer channel for roasters to reach a global audience. The target market consists of home-brewers and coffee aficionados who desire cafe-quality coffee without the complexity of traditional espresso machines. The company successfully raised over $177,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in 2020 before securing $1.27 million in a pre-Series A round and $5 million in a Series A round in June 2022 to fund global expansion and product development.

Morning's core product is the IoT-enabled Morning Machine, which is compatible with Nespresso OriginalLine capsules. Its key differentiator is the level of precision and control it offers the user, features typically found in professional cafe equipment. The machine includes a built-in scale for brew-by-weight accuracy, PID temperature controls for precise temperature management, and the ability to program pressure profiles. A signature feature is the 'Bloom & Brew' function, which uses pre-infusion to enhance flavor extraction. These parameters can be controlled via the machine's interactive interface or through the Morning mobile app. The app also serves as a repository for over 1,000 recipes developed by partner roasters, allowing users to replicate the roaster's intended brew with a single touch. This ecosystem of hardware, a curated marketplace, and brew-guiding software allows the company to bridge the gap between the convenience of pod-based coffee and the quality of the specialty coffee world.

Keywords: specialty coffee, coffee machine, coffee capsules, home brewing, IoT, direct-to-consumer, coffee technology, Nespresso compatible, coffee marketplace, smart coffee machine, precision brewing, pressure profiling, temperature control, coffee subscription, Leon Foo, Andre Chanco, Bowen Chiou, Singaporean startup, capsule coffee system, connected appliance