High-tech cooler breaks Kickstarter record

A Kickstarter for a "portable party" cooler now holds the record for the highest-grossing campaign on the crowd-funding site, ever.
The Coolest Cooler, which in addition to the standard space for ice and cold things, has a blender, waterproof bluetooth speaker, USB charger, cutting board and bottle opener, has raised more than $10.6 million dollars. (In the time it took to write this story, the Kickstarter raised another $100,000.)
It easily surpassed the previous record-holder, the Pebble smart watch, which raised $10.2 million.
"I'm so overjoyed," said Ryan Grepper, the inventor of the Coolest Cooler. "I was overjoyed at day two -- I'm so grateful for everyone coming on board."
The first time Grepper tried to kickstart the Coolest Cooler project, in November 2013, he raised just $100,000 of his $125,000 goal.
"My confidence was pretty low because of the first campaign," he said.
This time around, he set the bar lower, at just $50,000 -- at met that goal within just 36 hours.
Now, with less than three days left in the campaign, more than 50,000 backers have joined the Coolest crowd, and those who pitched in $165 or more will receive the first finished coolers in February.
Grepper said he's in the process of finalizing the design -- they'll come in Margarita green, Blue Moon and, of course, Coolest Orange -- and securing a factory for production, something he was able to start early thanks to the huge influx of cash.
He said he's heard from "many" retailers hoping to carry the Coolest, which will eventually retail for $299.