Gadgetory

hey what's up guys we're here at CES 2016 with Michael the CTO and co-founder of energist gonna meet you nice to meet you too and he's just gonna talk us through the company and they really call wireless charging standard so let's get into it what I'm what sets you guys apart from other wallets sure I'm sure so so when I started this company the goal is started with trying to charge my kids battery so it's constantly tired of pulling them out of the toy now you have to you know screw unscrew it take it out charge it and I thought there's got to be a better way than having to do that every day and as soon as I start looking at the problem realized it wasn't just me it's not just toys not just batteries it's cellphones it's wearables there's just a whole host of different device today to have batteries we know so many smart devices that you know you need to charge and there's got to be a better way of doing that so it energized our goal is to really be able to charge the distance so you don't have to go find a specific place to put your device you walk into a room you put your phone down you leave it in your pocket we find that device wherever it is and charge it remotely it's perfect so we keep it obviously great because as I said you we know that the pain points of wireless charging is it's not really Wireless when you have to then have a corded pad and you have to have a specific positioning so what kind of sets and they're just different in terms of the over-the-air stir just trying to talk us through the over-the-air stuff you showed up at CES 2016 and how we're kind of that the springboard from that and what 2015 was for you guys sure sure so last year I think we really show what's possible we showed our transmitters embedded in a TV bezel we showed it in speaker kind of showing where you can put it in your home and where you would see it in the future this year has been all about commercialization and miniaturization we spend a lot of effort on making this a you know product that can go in your hands as soon as possible so everything from you know effectively making a smaller chips more cost-effective chips it's been a big year for this on miniaturization I think you saw two days ago that we released our mini transmitter and what we found is we did miniaturization this year there's a whole ecosystem that's not being fulfilled and that's the wearable market you know until today trying to put a coil and a Fitbit or a misfit or something that's really small there's a very small battery in it it's just not feasible and being able to completely seal that device so it's waterproof you can take it swimming you can workout with it we found that just untapped market and by being able to take our smaller version of our transmitter and put it in the box the wearable we kind of solve the chicken and egg you may find in the ecosystem when you traditionally launch a new technology we kind of need to technology needs to innovate but then you need someone to do something to make it innovative and it's just I see instead what the chicken yeah and again you know we're not a product company you know our goal is to enable always different verticals so there's there's a natural synergy of well what comes first right and for us you know while we may be a mobile device in the year from now or any other time frame based on our different strategic we're working with there's certain market segments that can be very fast to market and we want to make sure that people with their pain points can be solved right away and just on the topic of you kind of because you obviously and it just is the licensing company it's like you said you're not a hardware manufacturer I don't need companies you're working with that you can tell us now for specifically within the mobile arena I wish I wish you have to ask the question we did announced last year right after CES and CES is great for us we announced our first top-tier consumer electronics companies one of the top five in the world unfortunately can't announce who they are as it would be with most large companies and want to keep it secret until they launch working feverishly last year we have said that we hope that they'll launch the you know in the 2016 early 2017 it's really in their control but certainly is a lot of market segments are starting to address now that we think can can come in to market even sooner than than that time frame again it's been it's been a good year for us not just in terms of miniaturization but in terms of you know patents we got six patents awarded I think it's important that as you come up with new technology that it's defensible and that it can have a you know a broad appeal we've we're on a third version of silicon so the silicon we have this year that you would embed in you know and your watch your phone or wearable or you know a battery or camera any of those things production silicon it's ready to go you know you don't have to wait another year for us to to to flush it out you know this is the version that we think is good good enough to go that's one of the reasons we announce that we're doing evaluation kits this month for both the miniature transmitter as well as a longer distance transmitter and more of enterprise transmitter that we showed last year just want to kind of bring it back a sec because you actually go into one of the questions I was gonna talk about which is your patents obviously we had you had the patterns approved last year but you've had we I know that every final artifact that one's issued so we filed over over 150 patents in the last three half years I mean this company started three and a half years ago or three years ago there's only a couple of us but we realized that there's so many market opportunities that we wanted to make sure we had ample protection so we filed patents and everything from our antennas to the architecture of our ships to the different market segments you know the Patent Office in the u.s. a little slow so it's taken three years to get our first six patents issued but we have six issued issued in the last couple months and every month we'll have more that are being reviewed and issued but you know that's very important obviously as we grow our company if we want to be like like an arm or others who license our technology into these different segments we need to make sure that our partners are comfortable with our technology and you obviously protect your interests you look at the USPTO these patterns are just in the US or giu still no there are no they're both they're both I mean if you count the the US international patents they're probably over 200 that we filed so we're protecting worldwide I mean again our view especially with our different strategics and our Tier one this is a you know it's the global market and the global solution that they they want to address so we're definitely seeking protection everywhere that's awesome and just on the topic of patents there was a at least not so much larger bit kind of the year before there were allegations of that some of the patents are well another company has a smaller company has very similar patterns but okay obviously with patents being issued are there are the people working who have almost very similar technology or as energist doing something that is kind of very unique to the company well I think you know we do you know Wireless has been around for 20 years there's thousands of thousands of patents on Telecom for RF I've been in the telecom market 15 years so it's very hard to in general file you know new and novel patents in this area there's a so much innovation that we've we've done in the last three years that there's just a lot of stuff that we can patent that makes us some difference HS you know we have our core patents you know we do things very different than others I mean there's one or two other companies looking at doing it with RF there's some of RF some with ultrasound some with lasers we have some great strengths at the RF that we chose it could be very very small and we'll show you some pictures or you can take some video of how small can get I think the wearable market it's very hard to address with coils very hard to address other technology with our RF solution it can be very very small so that's a huge advantage but I think you know the way we differentiate ourselves is in is in cost I mean in the end consumer device could be very cost effective and having been in this market and our team has done a lot of different Wireless products for Wi-Fi WiMAX LTE we know how to make very cheap silicon we know how to make very cost-effective antennas you really need to solve the entire ecosystem to make this cost effective as you do in a lot of new markets you can't just say here's a chip for the receiver we have to make a cost-effective transmitter we need to be able to manage this system and we'll show you later today we have a management system that sits in the cloud lets us monitor all these devices so that when you walk into a hotel you can get greed and so here's your free you know free service you know here we're charging your device you know Starbucks and it can give you information and statistics and and useful data for those you know different providers it becomes a win-win for the company because they get information with what you're doing and things like that but also if consumers because it's a reason to go in we mean if you go around the CSO floor you see almost everywhere is just offering you free charging because you're right we've got to the point where we use batteries everywhere but the one thing that hasn't been solved is always staying and I've charged up and even if you use a portable power bank you then have to charge a power bank and then you've got to charge it and it's kind of just a vicious cycle of having lots of information having lots of great technology but then not actually being able to use it when it and about dreams right so could you just want to talk a bit about the over-the-air stuff we saw last year because it was really cool being able to kind of have within your home as I said to earlier it was one of the biggest pain points with me personally with wireless charging is having to use a pad that you have to have a certain position but then you've got to plug into the pad and then it picked it's slow charging as well could we see the concept of at least from the consumer aspect of literally being able to not just have it built in terms but do it as I've knocking off to build modification at home so you walk into a room you're ready - absolutely so we have 1 or 2 vision models will show again today like we showed last year where you know you have a little sound bar that's below your speaker I mean starts below your monitor or your TV below the monitor of your computer that would serve as a smaller area so I think the scalability part is really important then we focus a lot on this year is you know you could have a slightly bigger transmitter that maybe 2 feet long by 4 inches wide that you know serves a small area in your office you can have a bigger transmitter for enterprises that goes 15 20 feet and serves a variety of people or you can have a miniature transmitter that can service a very small area near your laptop so you don't have to worry about plugging it in at all you can be completely portable I think that's that's something that you know a lot of people have kind of you know really see the the usefulness you know your laptops everywhere with you but you don't necessarily have a cord and so if you're on your laptop being able to charge your wireless device even just from your laptop is something that again offers a pain point that people have again I completely agree Utes so the problem with cables it's wireless charging but it's only ever Wireless between its kind of wireless conductive but as we said earlier you have a pad you can't use it laptop you can put it on top and charge it stuff like that let's talk about the miniaturization because that's really where you got sharing in 2016 you said wearables but just moving outside of just the core of mobile tech marrows could we see the miniaturization being sure I think you know wearables Internet of Things you know cameras batteries you know anything that requires you know tenth watt you know half a lot anything that's lower in power that doesn't need the distance but but needs to constantly top up every night I think is where we think there's a nice sweet spot I mean gaming controllers perfect pet peeve right your kids forget to put it down they get upset like that work a little it's right it was like you can have the plug-in charged and it does but then it eventually you like when you want to go back to wide cable especially if you've got a quite a large room and you're like this doesn't fit over here so so I think that's a great use case that doesn't require 15 feet we can have a very small effective transmitter on top of you know whatever gaming controller you have that charters your you know your controllers within a 5 6 7 foot area so I think the the ability to adapt these different markets again our view is that we want to enable these different market segments and having something that's flexible as small as a mini transmitter go as big as something that you know transmits at a distance I think that flexibility will enable markets that we didn't see you know a year ago and we were demonstrating it we're showing the kind of the big vision where we'd end up in the future you know a year from now I think we want to fill in that gap of things that people can launch you know this year and I think that's what we're trying to do and just talking about obviously energist it's kind of away from just a munitions visit but what up and the whole product is a kind of as a whole there are certain wireless charging standards at the moment which we know mhm would it fit under one of them or would it have to is it an entirely and you would have become a new standard of its own so so the PMA which is now called air/fuel that consortium we're actually leading the uncouple working group so if you look at the there's three different working groups there there's the couple which is the older matt technology which got to be you know directly on top there's a loosely couple which is the you know the resident which you can be you know an inch or so away you know meant to do higher power like cars and laptops and there's the uncouple so we're actually cheering on a couple of working group and that's anything you know a distance so whether that's 2 3 5 feet 10 feet 15 feet I mean it is a working group but there is no standard for this but having the working groups making sure that we all interoperate from the network layer so that you walk into you know hotel you may put it on a map because you want to charge a laptop at 40 watts we're not you know we're not gonna address that market it's very complimentary it may have our technology in it so that when you go at 10 15 feet we can top it up so you know our view is I certainly my view is that it's not one one solution takes all you know every solution has its unique yes which applies to certain markets we're never going to you know charge a Tesla it's just not cost-effective for the technology were deploying our technology is really geared towards anything that's 10 watts or less and we're finding today is you know even your your tablet that you could charge a 10 watts if you're constantly topping it up during the day you know you don't need to deliver 10 watt you can deliver 5 watch even though there were 2 watts it's that that utility that we're providing that you know is really solving the problem awesome and then what does the rest of 2016 and 2017 and Beyond hold for energies sure I mean this this year for us is the year fulfillment I mean last year was showing what's capable with the technologies people love but now that we have our final silicon this year all it's all about getting our evaluation kits getting chips in our partners hands and letting them drive to mark with the different products that they have envisioned so it's all about fulfillment commercialization you know privatization of taking our chips and our reference designs and putting into their products obviously the biggest question is we hear a lot about technology and a lot of it just doesn't it's all concepts concepts concepts that people get excited about and a lot of times concepts for what the wave side how real is one of them you know I think it's a natural question to ask I mean I'm always curious about new technology how far away is it and I think you know last year we show what's possible and we did so charging and we did show mobility but we still had work to do in terms of commercial you know commercialization I think one of the things this year that we want to just make you know infinitely clear to people is this is real and this is ready and so what we did is we actually submitted our technology to underwriter labs ul Labs one of the largest labs in the world that does FCC testing as well as other testing on equipment they're the ones who test how long it takes to charge different phones and put out reports and we said you know here's our technology here's we show last year here's our new receiver chips you know you do your independent testing you tell us what we're receiving and and then reports of public information we announced it a couple months ago and it demonstrated what we've been talking about for last year you know we can charge up to five six Watts within five feet you know to two and a half watts at 10 feet and one one and a half you know watch out 15 feet and so you know technology's real we're actually getting you know the the amount of power we expect with our technology obviously it's infinitely scalable to higher power and lower power like we're showing showing today but I think it's important because a lot of technologies come out there I mean we're a public company so when we say something you know we have to mean it and I think you know there's a lot of showmanship and there are always a showmanship in companies but for us you know we want to let people know this is real and that's one of the reasons we submitted it to show that this is ready for primetime now fantastic brilliant and just probably one last question I do have coming to bring it back just to the kind of the patterns and stuff like that here with obviously coming and trying to do something new do you have any kind of concerns with the FCC approval processes or any any issues with that always just things it's quite simple to get around I mean no I mean FCC is is always been one of those barriers that we have to make sure you know it's safe and and certainly having kids that was the first thing I want to make sure I'm not going to put anything out there that's not safe and since gonna be in front of my kids and it's a process we talked about a year ago again you know CES kind of took us to next level last year because we we got a lot of you know customer traction in particular our tier 1 our tier ones actually has taken the lead on our FCC approval their view is that you know they've done hundreds of products and FCC approval they know exactly what it takes to do that so we've we let them take the lead on that we think there's a very very clear path to getting approved certainly it takes time I mean it's a new technology so there's no standards for this but there's a clear path and and we hope that in the 2016 early 2017 you'll certainly see it in the hands with our Tier one in the meantime you know our goal is to enable these other market segments and have them launched this year obviously with FCC approval as well this is the year this is the years it's gonna be the year and that is the look of a relieved man who's like this is finally the year has arrived it's time it takes time for technology so it's actually when you're trying something new you get to the stage where you it's almost like it becomes it starts off as a concept a dream and then you just it's just fulfilling it so when you were probably gonna be the most relieved man ever it's like when the t1 does come up and you're like yes it's I mean I think it's good validation when you see you know our different customers I mean we're solving their pain points but certainly we all want I mean I want the product out there I love to be able to use our cheer wants product right now but you know I can't and so we'd love to so no I mean I I think it's every entrepreneurs dream to see you know their creation get deployed in sala of a pain point and I know it'll happens it's a matter of is it three months now six months from now a month from now me it's gonna happen this year and and when it does I think all of us really you know very happy so as a consumer I mean my kids ask me daily when's my Hexbug gonna have it in there I'm like you know be patient be patient it's coming it's coming and that's it that's that guys and it just is pretty much gonna bring wireless charging to everywhere in your home that's fair enough to but yeah absolutely fantastic well thank you very much to Michael taking time to give us the interview we're gonna take a look and we're gonna obviously see some of the cool like the miniaturization will show you just how small wireless charging is because if you've had a wireless charging phone you'll realize that the coil can be absolutely massive in the back of that thing so kind of not really suitable if you've got something like a Fitbit like you said so we'll show you that now and yeah thank you very much Michael thank you have an interview