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LightSail Energy (2008–2018) was an American compressed air energy storage technology startup. The company shut down in 2018, failing to produce a product. The unused tanks were sold away to natural gas companies in 2016.

Projects

A method of spraying the air with water droplets was proposed by LightSail to increase the efficiency of compressed air tanks. The company initially aimed to power an urban scooter. It later shifted its aim to fitting a compressed air-powered generator inside a standard shipping container. In 2014, the company received funding from Nova Scotia for a wind turbine project. This project did not come to fruition, costing the province $2M Canadian dollars. Starting in 2016, its remaining tanks were repurposed and sold off to the natural gas industry.

Funding

Investors in LightSail include Khosla Ventures, Peter Thiel, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Innovacorp, and oil supermajor Total S.A. In 2012, LightSail D-round founding rose 37.5 millions US$. It reached 55 employees in late 2014. By February 2016, LightSail had raised about $70 million in venture capital investment.

In December 2017, the company ran out of money. It cut the workforce down to 15 as it entered "hibernation". In March 2018, the company shut down. An investor cited the emergence of more efficient and cost effective Lithium-ion batteries as the reason for LightSail's commercial failure. Media specializing in startups and renewable energy have described the company as mismanaged.

References

1. Frangoul, Anmar (January 12, 2015). "A lot of hot air? Why energy storage matters". CNBC.
2. ^ Moriera, Peter (2018-03-16). "Innovacorp's $2M LightSail Bet Fails". Entrevestor.com. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
3. "Storing energy in compressed air could finally become cheap enough for the big time". Quartz. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
4. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/province-likely-to-lose-2m-in-failed-energy-storage-project-1.4584189
5. "Why Bad Things Happen to Clean-Energy Startups". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
6. Fehrenbacher, Katie (November 7, 2012). "In the post-Solyndra era, still some (rare) big bets left for cleantech". GigaOm.
7. Holt, David (October 2014). "Reaching for the moon". Progress Media. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016.
8. Woodbury, Richard (2018-03-20). "Province likely to lose $2M in failed energy-storage project". CBC News.
9. Bergstein, Brian (December 22, 2015). "The Energy Startup Conundrum". MIT Technology Review.
10. Metz, Rachel (November 5, 2012). "LightSail Energy Snags $37M in Funding". MIT Technology Review.
11. Wesoff, Eric; Trabish, Herman (February 18, 2013). "LightSail Gets $5.5M From Total, Thiel, Khosla, Gates for Compressed Air Energy Storage". Greentech Media.
12. Okyle, Carly (September 15, 2014). "Top 30 Startups to Watch". Entrepreneur.
13. Haislip, Barbara (February 21, 2016). "Energy-Storage Startup LightSail Plots Long-Term Game Plan". The Wall Street Journal.
14. Spector, Julian (2017-12-19). "LightSail Energy Enters 'Hibernation' as Quest for Game-Changing Energy Storage Runs Out of Cash". www.greentechmedia.com. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
15. Wesoff, Eric (May 26, 2016). "LightSail Energy Storage and the Failure of the Founder Narrative". Greentech Media.
16. Luce, Ivan De (2020-11-10). "These fraudulent founders were once hailed as 'the next Steve Jobs' of their now-disgraced startups". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-04-18.

External links

• LightSail website Archived 2019-04-01 at the Wayback Machine

• Privately held companies of the United States
• 2008 establishments in California