Startup Spotlight - Lilliputian Systems

Was reading the latest Newsweek last night (with Mrs. Palin on the cover) and read a good article by Daniel Lyons about a Wilmington, Mass company called Lilliputian Systems that has found a solution to the cellphone battery life problem.

As the article states, and as all of you iPhone toting consumers know all too well, device capabilities are getting better and better but battery improvements aren't keeping pace with the innovation that's taking place at the device level.

Enter Lilliputian, which has spent six years developing a pocket-size fuel cell that runs on butane and can charge a smart phone through a USB cable. Lilliputian’s patented Silicon Power Cell technology, originally developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), includes a chip based power generator and is fueled by recyclable high energy fuel cartridges. The technology is reliable, safe and environmentally friendly (6x more efficient/lower carbon footprint than using a wall charger). When compared to Lithium-Ion battery alternatives, Lilliputian’s solution provides a 5—10x improvement in volumetric energy density (energy density by volume) and 20—40x improvement in gravimetric energy density (energy density by weight) at a fraction of the cost.

Lilliputian calls the device a "portable power solution" and hopes to have it on retail shelves by the holiday season in 2009. The product consists of two parts—a generator housed in a plastic box about the size of a deck of cards, and a one-inch-by-two-inch butane cartridge that looks a bit like the ink cartridges you put into a printer. Snap the cartridge onto the generator, and you're making electricity. Cartridges will sell for $2-$3, and each one will charge an iPhone 16 times. The generator will cost $200 to $300.

This will be a fun company to watch and I will be rooting for them. Cellphone battery life is a huge problem - my cellphone is constantly running out of battery life at inopportune times. Others have tried to crack the code on this problem using fuel cell technology and as far as I can tell, things haven't worked out yet.

Lilliputian certainly has been at it a long time and the company has raised over $60 million in venture capital funding from numerous investors, including Atlas Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Rockport Capital.

Here's hoping they continue to fund and get this product in consumers hands.