Big News: Oru Kayak Has Joined Solo Brands
A letter from our founders
To Our Oru Kayak Community:
We launched Oru Kayak on Kickstarted back in 2012. We can still remember the butterflies in our stomachs the night before — not knowing if anyone would believe in our vision or pay for something as crazy as an origami kayak.
During the last 9 years, over 50,000 of you have explored the water in our kayaks. Our best days at work are when we hear about your adventures near and far. We’re both humbled and driven by your passion and enthusiasm. We’ve been blessed to have not only a great community but also a great team — hundreds of people who have worked tirelessly in the USA and Mexico to bring our dream to fruition.
Today, we’re officially announcing that we’ve joined Solo Brands, a new group of direct-to-consumer outdoor brands. It's headlined by Solo Stove, a company that also launched on Kickstarter and has attracted a similarly passionate community.
We started Oru Kayak to transform how people connect to the outdoors — to make the joy and tranquility of the water accessible to everyone. To put as many butts in boats as possible, we’ve come to the decision that we can do more, faster, and better by sharing resources with Solo Brands. We’re thrilled to join an amazing team of entrepreneurs who have built four other terrific companies including Chubbies and ISLE.
We’re also committing to support social and environmental causes as part of our core mission. We’ll be partnering with Ocean Conservancy and American Rivers in their efforts to preserve clean and healthy water ecosystems.
How, you may ask, will this change Oru Kayak? Truth be told, not too much. We’re still running the company with the same team, in our same digs. We are working to reduce lead times and improve community support in this still-crazy time (thanks for your patience).
And most of all, thank you for your support over the years. It has been one of the great joys of our lives to experience. We look forward to many more years of paddling, innovation, and gawking at your Instagram posts.
At the end of the day, life’s greatest adventures aren’t only about destinations — so much is about who you take the journeys with. We’re thrilled to be on this one with you ALL — and we’re just getting started.
With gratitude,
Ardy, Anton, and the team