Fluxwerx’ Tim Berman Named Entrepreneur of the Year 2016: Emerging Technology
October 6, 2016
Tim Berman tops a list of 30 BC entrepreneurs honoured by BCBusiness in partnership with Ernst & Young (EY).
The EY Entrepreneur of the Year program honours the best in BC’s business community.
In its award coverage, BC Business reports that, after nearly three decades with some of North America’s largest publicly traded lighting companies, Tim Berman found himself feeling limited. The solution: founding Flexwerx Illumination Inc.
With lighting companies heavily invested in the logistics, infrastructure and systems developed for incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs, Berman knew only a new kind of company could harness the potential of LEDs and bring it to a mainstream market. Over a two-year prototyping process, Berman’s team used everything from pressure cookers to toaster ovens to come up with viable fixtures that could mimic the diffuse, natural-seeming light you get from windows minus the glare produced by traditional bulbs.
Today, continues BCBusiness, Fluxwerx’ customer list includes Microsoft offices in Vancouver and Seattle, Bayer Pharmaceutical, post-secondary institutions, school districts, and Fortune 500 companies. The company is also poised to play a major role in the smart home market, with the potential for its light fixtures to include sensors that regulate room temperature and energy use, and even distribute Internet signals through Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) wireless technology.
Last year the company achieved revenues of $28 million, up from $9.6 million in 2014, and is on track for $56 million in 2016. In March, Fluxwerx went public when Montreal-based Lumenpulse Group acquired it in a deal worth $60 million.
Find out more about Tim Berman and other top entrepreneurs in BCBusiness: http://www.bcbusiness.ca/entrepreneur-of-the-year-2016-bcs-winners.
