Member Article

Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder of clean-tech startup Pavegen, on empowering the crowd

“Why not let the crowd empower Pavegen to reach our immediate investment goals?” Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder of the London-based clean-tech startup, asked when questioned about his decision to crowdfund the next step in Pavegen’s global takeover.

The startup, which has developed flooring technology that generates electricity from footfall, marked the launch of its crowdfunding campaign in May with a 10-tile flagship installation at Canary Wharf. Members of the public were able to gain first-hand experience of the technology, which powered two streetlights in the heart of the financial district.

Initially aiming to raise £750k, Pavegen is overfunding to the tune of £2m. For Laurence, there was no question about the power of crowdfunding, he told me: “We saw crowdfunding as the perfect opportunity to enable our next stage of growth for Pavegen.

“This way the whole community can be part of our journey.”

Pavegen aims to offer a urban solution to the renewable energy market, Laurence explained: “There’s been a greater demand for renewable energy generation in the public space. Whilst solar and wind alternatives are still in high demand, the energy mix requires new, alternative forms of sustainable resources.

“Technology start-ups are exploring the potential of energy from movement; ranging from the sway of leaves on the trees, to the momentum of a door opening and closing.”

Since inception, the company has generated sales across the world, with over 100 projects delivered in 30 countries on every continent.

Through the support of friends and family, as well as seed funding rounds and clever utilisation of investment, Laurence has managed to grow the company to a 30-strong team of engineers, designers, and innovators to develop his unique product from inception to market: “Most of our competition use piezoelectricity, which involves compressing a crystal to generate a short, sharp burst of power. This power’s effective in the short-term but not tangible enough for capture, storage and usage in other applications.

“The obvious competitors are wind and solar, but our technology is ideal in the urban environment where wind and solar aren’t as feasible, due to shading from high-rise infrastructure and limited space.”

The Canary Wharf installation has brought nationwide media attention to the startups plight, Laurence continued: “The reaction was immensely supportive! We received new inquiries from both prospective clients and members of the public.

“We were also under the spotlight within the media for our technology, with features in the Daily Telegraph, TechCrunch and Evening Standard, as well as live news broadcasts on ITV News, BBC London Live and BBC Radio 4.

“People were impressed and inspired by a tangible alternative to fossil fuels that could provide them with a visual payback – they could see the streetlights illuminate as they stepped on the tiles.”

For Laurence, scalability is key: “Our main KPIs are to invest heavily in sales and R&D, using the sectors to scale the business and technology.

“We want to equate the cost of our tiles to standard flooring solutions, whilst amplifying the energy output per footstep. By doing this, we can shift from smaller, experiential installations to larger, permanent projects. We’ve hired a Chief Technology Officer to assist us in reaching these goals.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .