KOB (Kind Of Blue)

What KOB (Kind Of Blue) does

KOB (Kind Of Blue) is a French industrial company headquartered in Toulouse that operates in the circular economy water-filtration space, transforming recycled glass waste into a high-performance filter media branded SANDBAG®. The core product is glass-based filtration media encapsulated in a recyclable technical textile bag, delivering 12-micron filtration fineness, up to 90% water savings versus traditional sand filters via a once-per-year backwash cycle, and a 7+ year product lifespan without clogging or complex maintenance. The technology is protected by an international patent and the SANDBAG® registered trademark, with KOB describing itself as the only company offering this specific glass-valorization model for water filtration.

The company entered the leisure (swimming pool) market in 2024 as its first commercial vertical, and is building a B2B go-to-market targeting pool professionals, agricultural operations, and industrial facilities through direct sales and a dealer/reseller network with a public 'Find a reseller' locator. KOB supplements product sales with a licensing model that deploys turnkey, replicable local production units in France and internationally, generating royalty-style revenue on top of unit sales. The company plans to expand into agricultural drip irrigation in 2026 and is running R&D programs for additional industrial water applications. In October 2024, KOB closed a €1.6 million seed funding round to support its commercial expansion and eco-responsible projects. The company is privately held, structured as a Société par Actions Simplifiée (SAS), described as a 'human-sized industrial company' with no public headcount disclosure.

Name

KOB (Kind Of Blue)

Legal name

K.O.B. (Kind Of Blue)

Website

https://kindofblue.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

KOB (Kind Of Blue) is a French circular-economy industrial company that transforms recycled glass waste into a patented filter media (SANDBAG®) for pools, agricultural irrigation, and industrial water streams, selling via direct B2B sales, a dealer network, and licensed local production units.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Toulouse

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. SANDBAG® Product Sales: Direct sale of the SANDBAG® filter media product to end customers (pool owners, agricultural operations, industrial facilities) through direct sales and dealer network.
2. Licensed Production Units: Deployment under license of local production units for their products in France and internationally. The technology is described as 'réplicable et clé en main' (replicable and turnkey), allowing local units to produce the filter media.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

KOB (Kind Of Blue) manufactures SANDBAG®, a next-generation water filtration media made from recycled glass encapsulated in a recyclable technical textile bag. The product is designed as a drop-in replacement media for sand filters in swimming pools, agricultural irrigation systems, and industrial water streams, delivering 12-micron filtration, up to 90% water savings versus traditional sand, and a 7+ year operational lifespan without clogging or complex maintenance. The company also licenses its patented turnkey production technology to operators in France and internationally.

Product overview

KOB (Kind Of Blue) offers a portfolio of water filtration solutions centered on its core product SANDBAG®, a recycled glass filtering media. The company sells two product variants: SANDBAG® (standard) and SANDBAG® Mini (compact), both providing 12-micron filtration with up to 90% water savings compared to traditional sand filters. Additionally, KOB offers Industrial Solutions through licensing agreements for local production units, and maintains an R&D function developing new filtration technologies for agricultural and industrial applications. The company entered the leisure/pool market in 2024 and plans to expand into agricultural irrigation by 2026.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SANDBAG®: Média filtrant nouvelle génération fabriqué à partir de verre recyclé et encapsulé dans un sac textile recyclable. Filtration jusqu'à 12 microns, jusqu'à 90% d'économie d'eau, durée de vie de plus de 7 ans.
• SANDBAG® Mini

Products and services

• SANDBAG® Next-generation filtration media made from recycled glass encapsulated in a recyclable technical textile bag. Compatible with all sand filters; provides 12-micron filtration, reduces backwash water consumption by up to 90% (only one backwash per year), and lasts 7+ years without clogging or complex maintenance. Targeted at pool owners and operators, agricultural operations, and industrial water streams.
• SANDBAG® Mini Compact variant of the SANDBAG® filter media designed for applications with space constraints, offering the same 12-micron recycled-glass filtration performance.
• Industrial Solutions (Licensed Production Units) Turnkey licensed deployment of local production units that manufacture SANDBAG® products in France and internationally. Allows entrepreneurs and local operators to replicate KOB's patented glass-to-filter-media technology under license.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 90% water savings compared to traditional sand filters (only 1 backwash per year vs. frequent backwashing)
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Hayward Holdings: Hayward is a leading pool equipment manufacturer (pumps, filters, sanitizers) whose sand-filter installed base represents both the displacement opportunity and the channel access point for SANDBAG® media.
• Fluidra: Fluidra is a global pool and wellness equipment group whose AstralPool and other brands sell sand filters and filtration media across Europe, overlapping with KOB's primary pool market and dealer network.
• Pentair: Pentair is a major global water treatment and pool filtration equipment company offering sand, cartridge, and other filter media systems that compete with KOB's installed base of traditional sand filters.
• Xylem: Xylem is a global water technology company with filtration and treatment solutions for industrial, agricultural, and municipal applications, comparable to the industrial and agricultural markets KOB plans to enter.
• 3M (Filtration division): 3M offers a broad portfolio of industrial and residential filtration products and media, positioning it as a large incumbent whose catalog could either complement or substitute for SANDBAG® in channel and OEM negotiations.
• Pall Corporation (Danaher): Pall is a global filtration, separation, and purification specialist serving industrial water and process streams, representing the type of incumbent KOB would compete against in industrial filtration.

Direct peers

• Dryden Aqua: Dryden Aqua manufactures AFM (Activated Filter Media), a recycled glass-based filter media for swimming pools that competes head-to-head with KOB's SANDBAG® in the same pool-filtration use case, with similar sustainability and water-saving claims.

Emerging players

• Netafim: Netafim is a global leader in drip irrigation systems whose agricultural customer base aligns directly with KOB's planned 2026 entry into drip irrigation filtration.

Others

• Strategic Materials: Strategic Materials is one of North America's largest glass recyclers; as a supplier/adjacent player in the recycled glass value chain, it represents both a potential feedstock partner and a strategic comparator for circular-economy glass valorization.

Regional players

• Procopi: Procopi is a French pool equipment manufacturer and distributor serving the same French pool professional and dealer channel that KOB targets with its SANDBAG® product.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kob-kind-of-blue
• Instagraminstagram.com/sandbagbykob

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about KOB (Kind Of Blue)