Pitchfest Finalist: LumenCache, Pitch by Derek Cowburn | ESG

This series highlights our Pitchfest finalists. At the 2023 Housing Innovation Summit, we introduced a new program, coined: Pitchfest in order to bring new ideas to light, offer feedback that startups can use to advance their solutions, and introduce these innovators to potential advisors, partners, investors, and clients. A dozen companies made it to the final round, and four came out on top.

In this episode, you'll hear Derek Cowburn from LumenCache. Derek was a finalist in the ESG category. Visit their wefunder.

Read more about Pitchfest and the Housing Innovation Summit. 

Transcript

Haley (00:00):

Hello and welcome to the Housing Innovation Alliance podcast. This series highlights our Pitchfest finalists at the 2023 Housing Innovation Summit. We introduced a new program, coined Pitchfest in order to bring new ideas to light, offer feedback that startups can use to advance their solutions and introduce these innovators to potential advisors, partners, investors, and clients. A dozen companies made it to the final round, and four came out on top. In this episode, you'll hear from one of our E S G finalists, Derek Cowburn from Looming Cash to get in touch with them, visit their website and find ways to connect in the description. Hey,

Derek Cowburn (00:35):

Welcome to Denver. Thank you very much for the Housing Innovation Alliance. This is a great audience for what we're doing because I think most builders install lights. So I'm Derek Coburn with Looming Cash, and I wanna talk with you a little bit about the future in the next decade. We're looking at a radical amount of materials that are required for all the construction that's going on. Copper is a major issue. They're looking at a complete shortage in just two years. And of course, you know, heavy copper wires are used to all the lights. That's about 60% of the copper used in the house for wiring, and they don't need it anymore. L e d lights sip energy. There's no reason to run that kind of heavy copper. There's also a challenge with skilled labor, right? A lot of the electricians are trying to going towards the, you know, nor renewable energy solutions and things like that.

Derek Cowburn (01:20):

And other infrastructure projects As far as sensors and healthy homes, you know, we always want to add a little bit of sensing and intelligence, but those systems are kind of hard to work with sometimes. And of course you wanna be able to put a little active in your passive. What about solar and batteries? You know, these are products that builders are often asked for because it's fantastic when you've got a power outage and you've got a little bit of battery and a little bit of solar. You can have your lights, you can charge your devices, and you can have ventilation. Very important things, and time of use. Gouging, as I call it, like you saw in Texas, can also be mitigated. Wireless is not gonna be a great solution because it's not really practical. Builders stay away from it. And connectivity standards, there's always another one coming along.

Derek Cowburn (02:00):

So, you know, they've been problematic, and that's why builders basically shy away from all of these technologies. I get my foot in the door more often by saying, I'll bet you hate this smart home ship builders aren't interested because of rapid obsolescence, et cetera. So how many of you give a hoot if you like lumen cash, if you've seen it before? Woohoo. Okay, couple of people, for those of you who haven't, let me tell you what it does. So we use low voltage, cat five wire out to the lights, down to the switches, exhaust fans, anything under 60 watts. We put a panel right next to your electrical panel. Typically, we convert one time from AC to dc, saves about 20% for power factor alone. And then now you can have sensors in there. And there's lots of companies that are doing this type of low voltage system.

Derek Cowburn (02:42):

Jim Baldwin here is Right, right with us, with matic. Each one of them has different types of protocols and standards for voltage. And so that's another reason why builders really weren't quite so interested. But when we asked builders, what do you want? They came up with this list. Reliability first thing, right? And then, you know, price parity with AC wiring, no technician, no special technicians required, no contracts, and a wide variety of fixtures. Very important. We've sold almost 10 million of the crappy prototype. This was just a proof of concept to show that it works and it's been running for 10 years. It's all around the world. Apartment buildings, wellness centers, commercial buildings, smart bus stops, lead platinum buildings, Californian buildings, even in the Himalayas. And with all of this experience, we learned every single facet of what was required to transform the industry. Now, the l e D lights, they're all dc, they're all direct current anyway.

Derek Cowburn (03:35):

So if you pick up a remote driver, you'll see that it already has converting into 50 volts DC or less. You put the little color temperature switch, but the problem is that switch is up in the ceiling. So if you want to change the color temperature for like human-centric lighting, you really can't. But with our system, it's built in. Human-Centric lighting, we think should be built into all fixtures at any price point. And the f and the light is the same kind of switch that you're used to. So light fixture companies can get rid of their AC driver, attach our smart interface block and go from there. So the fixtures are the same, the switches are the same. Sparky's happy because this is so much faster to install. So with gen two, you start off as easy as a low voltage panel. You drop in a power plane that makes the power in connections from one AC source.

Derek Cowburn (04:17):

The power distribution module snaps in those little wires from your CAT five connect to it. But the specialty is these little drivers. This is where the a, the ac dc drivers would normally be at the light. They're back at the panel. So if a light goes out, you just simply replace it back in the closet. And the unique thing is that we tie any vendor's product together. This makes it future proof. This is really the thing that unlocks this whole challenge that everyone's facing with. Even the gateways can be unique for each individual zone. If you don't like Cat five, we've got a two and four conductor wire that'll handle the other topologies. It scales to any size. You can use it during construction for construction. Lighting and speed is everything. We can trim out a house in an hour at trim time. So essentially what we created is the most open and compatible DC platform.

Derek Cowburn (05:04):

It solves all the major challenges that face the industry, and it opens up a wide open platform for development partners that can do, you know, indoor air quality leak detection, et cetera. I've lived in China for seven years to figure out how to manufacture at any scale. Largest builders are no problem. There's a $200 billion opportunity just in the applications on top of the platform. Two major brands handle the production home builders and custom home builders. Custom home builders is just more expensive. We solved all the check boxes that were needed to transform this industry. And at a perfect time when all of those factors are hitting you guys at the same time, think about it, 64% reduction in copper, all the mining and everything else that goes into that, et cetera. And if you're applying not only the energy savings, but also the benefits of passive house and more efficient homes and more healthy homes, it's over a gigaton of energy savings. We'd like to say that blooming cash is a smart power platform that enables the most brilliant energy solutions. I look forward to your questions, and I'm really happy to have meet met all of you here at the show today. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (06:15):

Brilliant. It hasn't even stopped yet.

Derek Cowburn (06:18):

<Laugh>. I think it gives more time for questions. This is, and I'm gonna do an Oprah Winfrey here. Anybody who would like a switch to take home. Okay, you get a switch. Anyone else wanna switch? You get a switch, you get a switch. <Laugh>.

Speaker 3 (06:31):

All right, like a switch. Eight minute clock has started. Switch as you play Oprah. I'm gonna hand over to Ross for your first question.

Speaker 4 (06:38):

I guess just practically, talk to me about the customers that you're talking to. Who are you really trying to convince to purchase this system or to adopt this system and have success with actually putting it into the market? Who is this customer that you're, you're primarily trying to convince? Maybe they're not the one, the direct invoice, but who's the one that's really typical?

Derek Cowburn (06:52):

Yeah, so builders, you know, I mean we, this product specifically the gen two is made to be a replacement for AC lighting. So every factor that a builder deals with, whether it's supply chain and capacity, I dealt with that ease, lower skew parts. The fact that it makes, you know, beautiful light, it's simple. If you notice the light switch is plain old decor switch. Everything we did is focused on production. Home builders. Epic has more software, it's got more features, so that's the one for the custom home builders. But you know, early on it was a very different story. It was about early adopters. People just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And from TriPoint yesterday, after spending time with me, he's like, I gotta build a new house now. So it, it really is an energizing and exciting opportunity and it's something that you can certainly say as an upgrade. So, and we'll certainly explain why customers, the end users might be more interested.

Speaker 5 (07:39):

So coming from the big builder side, we're, I would say horrendous when it comes to change management, <laugh>. So talk to us a little bit about change management, not just in the trades, but the supply channel. And then maybe the biggest one, I'm sensitive to municipalities. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, has that been handled in

Derek Cowburn (07:55):

The past? Well, it's all class two, so for the most part, inspectors just kinda like, oh, class two. Okay, you got FCC on it. Good. We're gonna have, you know, UL 2108. Again, that's low voltage lighting system. We'll also add you all certifications for emergency lighting, medical device, power supply. So you can buy as many of the certifications as we want on top of this. I think it's just an education process for the nec, you know, so the, the electrical inspectors, we're gonna address them. I'd hope to speak at some of their events because like, think about it, the, the safety of the product is no longer based on the installer. We prove that like if you plug it in and it's not a valid device at the other end, it just won't power it. So it's no longer the installer, the electrician that's required to maintain the safety. It's the system and we already do the UL and the factory certification for quality, et cetera. That's gonna be a big change in the

Speaker 5 (08:44):

Industry. We're talking just lighting right now. Is there plans in the future for outlets?

Derek Cowburn (08:48):

Yeah, so USB outlets, big deal, right? Because you need to do at least 60 to 90 watts at USB outlets. We will make a AC outlet in the future because the future products will support up to 300 watt. But I think by that time the need is gonna disappear. It's kind of on the roadmap, but I don't think we're gonna have to do it. Everything in the world is dc. Everything you plug in is direct current. And so the, the devices now, you know, 300 watts handles your refrigerator, your TVs, your fan coil units like we saw earlier today, pretty much everything is gonna be under 300 watts in dc.

Speaker 3 (09:20):

Is there an open API for the Lumen cash system?

Derek Cowburn (09:23):

Yes. In fact, there's several APIs, not only for operating the system. So if you want to integrate, it's very important. We wanted to make this the most open platform, but also on the supply side. As a purchaser for example, you'll be able to see what our capacity is. You'll be able to specify quote, design and also deliver the system. So it'll do, it'll provide those kind of checklists for all the sub materials that you need, et cetera. And it's all API based. It is a control system after all. I don't like to say it's control system because then builders are like, Ugh, technology <laugh>. But you know, the whole point of making it as simple and stupid as a light switch when it goes in and yet it has all these capabilities afterwards, that kind of solves the challenge. That was, that was the big stepping point we had to solve.

Speaker 3 (10:04):

What's the total cost of install for the average home?

Derek Cowburn (10:07):

The speed of install, you know, like tipping and stuff, it's about the same as ac. You gain a lot of savings with copper. So sorry, copper went up. It's about, so for a three bedroom home, nicely appointed, doesn't have a single light in the bedrooms. It's got four lights in the bedrooms under cabinet, lighting, a few sconces with bulbs, et cetera. $1,700 for a three bedroom home. It's interesting, we can actually bring that manufacturing here to the us. So I've been talking with Jugar sha from the loan program office because we have a few number of SKUs that are needed. And so we can actually bring a lot of that manufacturing here.

Speaker 3 (10:37):

Can you retrofit an existing home easily with the system?

Derek Cowburn (10:41):

Not easily. It's different types of wire. There is a pathway to do a conversion product, but again, unlikely. Are

Speaker 6 (10:49):

You looking at using recycled materials for your casings and plastic

Derek Cowburn (10:52):

And everything? Actually we can reuse a lot of components. One of the pieces I actually brought with me reuses, our old 30 watt drivers. So we've got, you know, about 12,000 of these things out in the world right now. And so I made a little adapter that plugs in these things. So technically everybody who has the old system can plug it in and get the new system. And to give you an idea, this is an AC to DC 30 watt driver. This is a DC to DC 30 watt driver. So the amount of materials is significant savings. And yes, almost everything is meant to be broken down, replaced. You have to service lights in a lot of parts of the world, European Union, et cetera. Are

Speaker 3 (11:23):

People just getting hungry? Is that what's

Derek Cowburn (11:25):

Going on, <laugh>? Yeah, I am.

Speaker 3 (11:27):

How do you plan to market and

Derek Cowburn (11:28):

Sell? Pretty much. We don't want to break the current channels there. So we will do direct for much larger builders, it's all about volume. If you're a direct builder, you can order directly from us, but other than that, it'll go through normal distribution channels. Hopefully you'll have local sources with an electrical distributor. Still looking for one. If there's any distributors here, it's, it's kind of standard for that. How much are

Speaker 6 (11:47):

You trying to raise and what are you gonna use it

Derek Cowburn (11:49):

For? We're profitable. I have very high gross margin. Again, thank you Shenzhen. And so we don't have the same kind of VC Cliffs or any of those concerns. This is an intergenerational prod product. The goal, the vision, and the mission of the company is not about blast off, sell sin, say an r c builders, you know, I want to be with builders by the time I die, you know? And hopefully this company will continue to go on. We will do a raise of a kind, a crowdfunding and you know, certainly you can participate that we also welcome, you know, large builders. I mean Ulti for example. If you want to kind of invest in it, you're saving your own costs, you can reduce your own costs.

Speaker 3 (12:28):

If that wasn't a plug, I don't know what it was. <Laugh>, that was a good tap dance.

Derek Cowburn (12:33):

Done this a few times. Since

Speaker 3 (12:34):

You only have 10 seconds left, we don't have time to ask you a question. Do you have a question? And then answer it <laugh>, but I do. Thank you. Nice job.

Derek Cowburn (12:41):

Thank you all.

Haley (12:43):

Thank you for listening to the Housing Innovation Alliance podcast. We invite you to learn more about Pitch Fest and let us know if you are interested in participating in the next cohort@housinginnovationsummit.com.