缅北强奸

(image courtesy Nanoleaf)

"Asia鈥檚 richest philanthropist," major Silicon Valley firm invest in alumni鈥檚 Nanoleaf light bulb

Quirky-looking and eco-friendly bulbs win new support
 
Just a year after launching a Kickstarter campaign resulting in more than $200,000 in investments, alumni startup has banked support from Hong Kong business mogul and philanthropist Li Ka Shing () and Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins.
 
Nanoleaf was profiled by 缅北强奸 News last February when the Kickstarter campaign for the stylishly designed innovation from engineering alumni Gimmy Chu, Christian Yan and Tom Rodinger, regarded as 鈥渢he world鈥檚 most energy-efficient light bulb,鈥 began to draw investments well beyond their original $20,000 goal.
 
Now they鈥檝e scored influential global funding while keeping the 缅北强奸 connection alive, adding three new team members from the university (two alumni and one current student on internship) and even name-checking the support of President Meric Gertler when speaking with international media.
 
Nanoleaf co-founder Gimmy Chu spoke with 缅北强奸 News from the company鈥檚 base in Shenzhen, China, about how they鈥檝e grown from humble startup to global upstart.
 
What鈥檚 changed for Nanoleaf since we last spoke?
It鈥檚 been crazy over here! Since the last time we talked, we started production and received a great deal of media attention globally. I think people are drawn to the high energy efficiency design of our bulb as well as our story鈥攁 David vs. Goliath sort of thing鈥攜ou know, just three entrepreneurs with no funding and just a bright idea. We used our passion for efficiency to build a light bulb that was well ahead of the competition. I鈥檓 actually surprised that the bigger companies haven鈥檛 hit our efficiency rates yet, but sadly I don鈥檛 think efficiency is their primary focus.
 
Around the end of November, we were put in touch with the 缅北强奸 Advancement team when they ordered some Nanoleaf bulbs to give to alumni donors. Emily Pimblett, on the advancement team, was highschool friends with one of our co-founders, Christian Yan. She saw our Kickstarter and said, 鈥淲ait a second, I went to school with that guy!鈥 and reached out to us. Tom and I were invited over to the university last summer and we were featured in one of the promo videos. I鈥檇 never expected to be on a video from 缅北强奸鈥攊t鈥檚 pretty incredible.

Then President Meric Gertler visited Asia and met with Li Ka Shing鈥檚 investment group, Horizons Ventures. They asked if anything was sparking his interest and he gave them one of our bulbs. It was crazy, the next day we got a call from David Palmer, 缅北强奸鈥檚 vice-president of advancement, saying that Solina Chau, one of the most powerful women in Asia, wanted to meet with us tomorrow鈥攃an we make it?
 
At the time we didn鈥檛 know much about venture funding; we were just a couple of engineers passionate about technology. But we realized that this was an opportunity of a lifetime, so we put together a quick presentation and trekked to Hong Kong for the meeting.
 
We are very honest, open people. So at the meeting we said frankly that we didn鈥檛 know anything about funding but here鈥檚 some cool technology that we鈥檝e been working on. We also learned that Horizons Ventures is not your typical venture capital group just looking to make a profit. They actually put earnings towards philanthropy鈥攈ealthcare and education in communities all around the world. For us, it was a perfect match with our mission.
 
Horizons Ventures told us to return in a few days with an estimate of how much money we needed. While most startups typically spend a lot of time in delivering pitches, for us it was a new world: we had no idea how to value our company but at the very least we could share our vision for the company.
 
At the second meeting, the team at Horizons Ventures was fascinated by the technology that we planned to introduce to the market and they were excited to jump on board. We ended up getting funding from them, as well as a Silicon Valley venture capital group called Kleiner Perkins.
 
This funding was a big win for us because it gave us the opportunity to grow a team. We now have an office here in China instead of working out of Christian鈥檚 aunt鈥檚 factory and our apartments. We started hiring more 缅北强奸 grads (Ian Liu  from computer engineering, Henry Chow from material engineering), and we also have an intern (Tiffany Hu, currently taking mechanical engineering). Henry and Tiffany were both members of the team that one of our co-founders Tom met while working with the team.
 
How has the past year changed your lives?
It has been a bit of a Cinderella story. We have been connected with people that we wouldn鈥檛 have even dreamed of being connected to. Our lifestyle hasn鈥檛 changed all that much because even before we were working nonstop. But the major change is that the funding allowed us to work on Nanoleaf full-time. Last year both Christian and I had our full-time jobs and were trying to do this on the side.
 
Also, the major investments opened up a lot of doors for us to people and resources all around the world. We鈥檙e learning more about running a business and the importance of staying connected. The Li Ka Shing Foundation donates to many top universities around the world so they鈥檙e able to connect us with valuable resources that we need.
 
Sounds like despite the long hours you鈥檙e still passionate about your work?
It鈥檚 definitely a dream come true. I鈥檓 working with two of my best friends and creating a little Nanoleaf family right here. We stay late at the office to hang out鈥攚e even have beanbag chairs in our lounge area. We鈥檙e also lucky to be working on something that we all feel very passionate about, the world needs more technology innovations that can really help create sustainability. We鈥檙e definitely on a mission to really make an impact on the planet and we have been fortunate enough to be well positioned to do so.
 
What鈥檚 next for Nanoleaf?
We plan to introduce a new product this summer and it鈥檚 going to be really, really cool. We made improvements to the light quality of our original Nanoleaf bulb and added features and functions 鈥 it鈥檚 also going to be dimmable鈥攁nd I think it鈥檚 going to be a big hit.
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