LightSail Energy

LightSail Energy
Type Private
Founded 2008 (2008)
Headquarters Berkeley, California, United States
Key people Steve Crane, CEO
Danielle Fong, CSO
Industry Energy storage
Website LightSail Energy

LightSail Energy is a compressed air energy storage technology startup located in Berkeley, California.[1]

History

LightSail was founded in 2008, by CEO Steve Crane and chief science officer Danielle Fong. It was initially focused on using compressed air to power a scooter, but shifted towards an energy storage product for the power grid.[2] As of late 2014, the company had around 55 employees.[3]

Funding

As of February 2016, LightSail had raised approximately $70 million in venture capital investment.[4] Investors in LightSail include Khosla Ventures, Peter Thiel, Microsoft founder Bill Gates,[5] Innovacorp, and oil supermajor Total S.A..[6]

Products

LightSail aims to build a compressed-air powered generator that will fit inside a standard shipping container.[7] In December 2015, co-founder Danielle Fong announced that pilot tests for the system were scheduled to begin in 2016. LightSail also manufactures and sells pressurized gas storage tanks to the natural gas industry.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Frangoul, Anmar (January 12, 2015). "A lot of hot air? Why energy storage matters". CNBC. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Holt, David (October 2014). "Reaching for the moon". Progress Media. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Okyle, Carly (September 15, 2014). "Top 30 Startups to Watch". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Haislip, Barbara (February 21, 2016). "Energy-Storage Startup LightSail Plots Long-Term Game Plan". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Metz, Rachel (November 5, 2012). "LightSail Energy Snags $37M in Funding". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Wesoff, Eric; Trabish, Herman (February 18, 2013). "LightSail Gets $5.5M From Total, Thiel, Khosla, Gates for Compressed Air Energy Storage". Greentech Media. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Fehrenbacher, Katie (November 7, 2012). "In the post-Solyndra era, still some (rare) big bets left for cleantech". GigaOm. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Bergstein, Brian (December 22, 2015). "The Energy Startup Conundrum". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 4 April 2016.

External links

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