An Australian invention, the Seabin, has attracted $300,000 in two months, with the two inventors hoping to launch the product before the year’s end.
Sky News reports that Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski, two surfers, quit their jobs to develop the automated device, which sucks debris into a filter bag using a water pump.
The promotional video received over 10 million hits on YouTube shortly after the ABC ran a story on the Seabin in December.
"It's been absolutely amazing," Ceglinski told the ABC of the interest since late last year.
"It was really slow for about three-and-a-half weeks or so and then my telephone started going crazy.
"We started to make $20,000 a day, and then all of sudden the video went viral, it was incredible.
"I was getting about four emails every minute, the Discovery Channel is coming over from America at the end of the month and CNN ran the story."
The Seabin is used to clean marinas, but the pair hope it can be used in future to help clean the open ocean.
Below: the Seabin's viral video
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