INTERVIEW WITH PATRIK DEUSS – CEO LEDCITY
Smart LED Lighting Systems to Lower Energy Use
Commercial buildings use too much energy for lighting. Current lighting systems run with a small amount of sensors per area, which makes it impossible to adapt brightness flexibly.
LEDCity developed easy to install light sources with up to five integrated sensors that use Artificial Intelligence to optimize energy use while delivering comfortable lighting conditions.
Thanks to 90% in energy savings on average, this solution pays for itself after only two years, while having a positive impact on our environment.
What inspired you to start your company?
During my bachelor I became aware that over 12 % of electricity is used for lighting. At the same time, I noticed that larger buildings (including our university) were usually lit the whole day, although the light was often not needed. To find a solution to this problem, I developed a prototype of an energy efficient lighting system in my bachelor’s thesis.
Who would you consider to be a significant influence on you professionally and can you explain why?
I would probably go with Elon Musk. In my opinion all the topics around him are inspiring– whether it’s Tesla, SpaceX, Hyperloop or Neuralink. I find it exciting to observe how he often makes the seemingly impossible possible, turns entire industries upside down and always has deeply thought-out strategies. Repeatedly, I can take away useful advice for myself, which he embodies: From not doubting your own ideas to finding the common thread, having visions, working hard and many more.
What are you most proud of achieving with LEDCity?
If I had to choose one, it would probably be that I can work with our team of 30 people every day to have an increasingly positive impact on the environment. In total, we have already been able to save the annual electricity consumption of around 7000 households and 3,900,000 kg of CO2.
We are really proud that we have already been able to build up a portfolio of around 350 well-known customers and generated about CHF 2,500,000 in revenue this year. And of course I must emphasize that we are incredibly proud to win one of the most important young entrepreneur awards in Switzerland: The W.A. de Vigier Award 😉
What are your plans for the future, and where do you see LEDCity in another 3-4 years?
Our top priority is product development and market expansion. After having now established a subsidiary in Germany and setting up another one in Spain, we intend to hire even more employees to gain a strong presence there as well as in other European countries with high electricity prices. At the same time, we aim to improve our products with over the air software updates and make them more efficient and intelligent, so that we can offer our customers more additional value. In order to achieve all these goals even faster, we are currently planning our series A financing round.
Our next ambitious goal: to have reduced the electricity consumption of lighting to a point where the output of a nuclear power plant is substituted.
What did winning a W.A. de Vigier Award do for your company?
Definitely a lot! Of course, the prize money of CHF 100,000 helped us a lot to achieve our goals. But it was really more than “just” the money: The award gave us a lot of visibility and credibility, access to a promising network as well as media coverage. Recently, we have been approached by various people – be it for nominations, interest in the product, investing, events or similar. This is something we are really grateful for and we are looking forward to further opportunities thanks to the W.A. de Vigier Foundation.
– Thank you, Patrik!