Creating wireless charging technology that actually works
June 3rd, 2020
Energysquare is building a new wireless charging standard,with the aim of taking the power cables of our work devices out of theequation. We are very excited to announce our investment in the company.
A universal pain
We all know the pain: going to a meeting to then realizethat your laptop’s battery will fail soon, because you did not plug it in earlierat your desk. You might have tried putting charging stations in your meetingrooms, just like we did at Partech, however this quickly turns into a realmess.
The ultimate solution would be to charge your laptop, bothon your desk and in your meeting rooms, without the hassle of plugging incables. This is where wireless charging comes into the picture.
When Giants can’tbeat physics
Nikola Tesla demonstrated in the late 19th century already,that you can transmit electricity through the air by creating a magnetic fieldbetween two circuits, in this case a charging pad and your device. Thisphysical phenomenon is called electromagnetic induction, and is used inwireless charging technology for phones, through the so-called Qi standard.
Inductive charging might sound like magic, but actually theuser experience is far from enchanting. You will have to wait 2-3x times longerthan you normally would to have your phone fully charged and if your phone isnot perfectly positioned on the charging pad, your phone will die before youralarm wakes you up in the morning. On top of that, you are wasting a lot ofenergy that goes to heating up your phone. Positioning, speed and energy lossesare all innate limitations of inductive charging, which cannot charge deviceslarger than smartphones.
Over the past 7 years, however, all major electronicscompanies, think among others Apple, Intel and Qualcomm, have invested billionsin trying to solve these issues and make inductive charging work. They howeverhave not succeeded to build a solution that is safe, energy-efficient andreliable, and relevant to devices beyond smartphones.
A radically differentsolution
Four years ago, Timothée Le Quesne (CEO) and Daniel Lollo(CTO), 2 brilliant French engineers, understood the limitations of inductivewireless charging and started working on a fundamentally different approachleveraging conduction. Here, yousend a charge through a (set of) conductive materials to your device, much likea normal charging cable does. Why has no one thought about it before? Becauseit is very complex to safely and accurately send energy in the right amount atthe right time to right place on the surface.
However, it is exactly here that the technology called Powerby Contact® developed by Timothée and Daniel makes the difference. It is a setof advanced microelectronics and algorithms, allowing users to charge all theirdevices simultaneously on a single surface, at maximum speed, with noelectromagnetic waves, no energy loss and most importantly no safety risk.Touching the tiles or even spilling liquids on them is totally harmless! Ifyour device is equipped with Energysquare technology, all you have to do isplace your device on the charging tiles. It will recognize the type of deviceyou are working on, to then charge it safely, efficiently and as fast as yournormal charger would through two small electrodes that can for instance beintegrated in the anti-slip feet underneath your laptop, or in the case of yourphone.
From a school lab toa Lenovo manufacturing plant
What initially started as a research project at one of theleading technical universities in France, Telecom Paris, grew into a largermission. To bring their technology to market, Timothée and Daniel decided tostart a company and called it Energysquare.
Initially, they ran a successful Kickstarter campaign targetingend-users directly. This allowed them to build, sell and ship their ownhardware. However, as the aim was to have scalable, wide and integratedadoption of their technology, the team shifted their focus from sellingproducts to end-customers directly, to selling technology on a royalty basis tolarge electronics companies.
Today, Energysquare isbuilding an impressive ecosystem of partners, willing to adopt and licensetheir technology. Firstly, they validate the willingness to adopt theirsolution with buyers of huge fleets of computers, such as groups like Renaultor Orange. Secondly, they go to large computer manufacturers convincing them toimplement their charging technology in their hardware. Lastly, they partnerwith electrical equipment companies such as Legrand, that will be building,selling and integrating the charging tiles.
Navigating this complex sales network is obviously far froman easy task for a young company, but with their strongly resonating valueproposition, patented technology, a well-structured sales process and a teamwith deep expertise, they are convincing some of the biggest players out there.After winning the CES Best of Innovation Award among more than 4500 companies,they managed to close a technology partnership with Lenovo to integrateEnergysquare technology into one of their product families.
A strong teamoperating a highly scalable model
At Partech, we’ve beenfollowing Timothée and Daniel for quite some time. From the beginning, we wereimpressed by their ambition, resilience and diligence. Since our firstinteractions, we witnessed their ability to iterate fast and reach impressivemilestones. We are happy to back the whole Energysquare team, on their missionto build a new wireless charging standard. We are convinced that if they manageto do so, their royalty-based business model will make them not only a veryimpactful but also incredibly profitable business.
With the new funds,Energysquare will continue to hire in France, and add a presence in Taiwan andthe USA to gain further commercial traction and prove the merit of theirtechnology at scale.
Visit Energysquare.cofor more information.
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