This Is the Most-Funded Kickstarter Product Ever (And It's a Basic Household Item)

Impact

A Kickstarter for the "Coolest Cooler" — an ultra snazzy cold storage container that comes with a blender, USB charger, cutting board and more — has surpassed its $50,000 goal and raised more than $11 million dollars.

Yes, you read that correctly. That thing your parents made you drag around as a kid on family vacations has been gifted more than most Americans will see in their lifetimes, all in the name of slapping on some bells and whistles and calling itself a "21st Century Cooler." 

Image Credit: Kickstarter

The gadget has officially surpassed Pebble as the most-funded Kickstarter in history. The smartwatch took the tech world by storm in May 2012 after it raised $10.2 million in funding. 

Will the cooler follow in Pebble's footsteps? As TechCrunch points out, Pebble's Kickstarter was largely responsible for lighting a fire under the smartwatch market. It's now sold in places like Best Buy, and it's spawned updates like Pebble Steel. The smartwatch industry has also expanded and now includes giants like LG, Motorola and Samsung.  

It's tough to say whether the cooler will be as ubiquitous as Pebble a year from now, but the millions of dollars raised already (and it still has 31 hours to go) suggests a sizeable amount of momentum. 

On the other hand: This is a cooler. It might be a fancy cooler, but it is nonetheless a plastic box on wheels. It should be surprising (and dismaying) that people are willing to donate millions to something like this, but unfortunately, it's not the most ridiculous Kickstarter in recent memory — that honor without a doubt goes to the potato salad project

Ryan Grepper, the cooler's creator, has been making the rounds on the media circuit, and he has big dreams for his brainchild. On learning from previous big-name Kickstarters, Grepper told Mashable, "We're doing our best to study what has been done, what mistakes were made, what corrections were made."

Image Credit: Kickstarter

Get ready for the portable margaritas and beach parties, because from the looks of things, the $11 million dollar cooler will be rolling through a picnic near you soon enough.