TOP 100 Startup Award 2017: Second place for L.E.S.S. "In the fast lane towards series production"
07.09.2017
L.E.S.S. The Lausanne-based company aims to break into the automotive industry with its innovative light technology.
 L.E.S.S. with its innovative light technology
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Very few visitors at this year’s Geneva Motor Show will have noticed it. At the stand of one of Germany’s major automotive manufacturers, there was a concept car featuring a dazzling technological highlight built into its running lights. For the Lausanne- based company L.E.S.S. (Light Efficient Systems), this marked their long-awaited breakthrough into the automotive market. The car manufacturer – which must remain anonymous until after the international motor show in Frankfurt this autumn – is internationally renowned, because all its concepts end up going into series production. What’s more, it produces over two million vehicles each year.
All of which gives Yann Tissot, CEO and co-founder of L.E.S.S., good reason to be enthusiastic: “Now things are really taking off. Our company is finally reaching the size and scale that we’ve always aimed for.” And their lofty goals are certainly making waves. According to Tissot, within the next five years L.E.S.S. has the potential to achieve a turnover of “several hundred million francs”.
In other words, the company that ranked first in the 2015 and 2016 TOP 100 startups list is clearly banking on a leap into mass production. Up until now, this exemplary business was successful in the niche market of optical quality control, which is crucial for manufacturers of watches and medical implants, among others. In these industries, it is critical to be able to see and measure the elements under evaluation as effectively as possible, either with the naked eye or some form of camera. And there is currently no better tool available for this than a uniform and collimated
L.E.S.S. light.
Founded in the EPF Lausanne Innovation Park in Ecublens in 2012, the company views its lights as competition for LED technology, which takes up too much space, is too inefficient and produces light beams that are not even enough. The alternative developed by L.E.S.S. is the result of dissertations written by the two founders about photonics and non-linear optics. The key innovation is an active fibre optic cable based on a single nanostructured glass fibre. The nanofibres that pass through the laser light are comparable to neon tube lighting – except that they are thinner than a human hair and provide bright, homogeneous light.
And now these advantages are making their way into our cars. Apart from the headlights, all the other lights in a car can be fitted with this “nano active fibre technology”. The major benefits: the L.E.S.S. products use less energy and weigh only half as much as conventional car lights. They also open up completely new possibilities in relation to the design of the lights. But above all it’s their outstanding efficiency that make them so appealing to manufacturers of electric cars. “We have a huge amount to offer in that regard,” says Yann Tissot.
The young company with 12 employees is now a fully fledged market player. It will soon depart the innovation park and move into its own production facilities in Renens. In 2018, staff numbers are set to swell to over 30 people. Next year they expect to produce “several
thousand” quality control products, because the first market L.E.S.S. tapped into is currently flourishing. Yet this is just the beginning. “Our challenge will be to supply the necessary quantities for the automotive market,” explains Yann Tissot.
After all, L.E.S.S. has its fingers in several automotive pies. The team from Lausanne not only collaborates with manufacturers, but also with car light suppliers. And they will need plenty of money for the impending growth spurt. In 2018 the startup plans to have a second round of financing, “definitely in the double-digit million range”.
L.E.S.S. is focusing on Germany in particular. Tissot reports that so far interest has come from companies and family foundations. “They are used to investing in long-term industrial projects.” If German investors become heavily involved in L.E.S.S., there will be “enormous pressure” to also begin producing in Germany, says Tissot. “But that’s still a long way off and in the future we definitely want to retain our business activities in Switzerland, too.”
TEXT: KASPAR MEULI
All of which gives Yann Tissot, CEO and co-founder of L.E.S.S., good reason to be enthusiastic: “Now things are really taking off. Our company is finally reaching the size and scale that we’ve always aimed for.” And their lofty goals are certainly making waves. According to Tissot, within the next five years L.E.S.S. has the potential to achieve a turnover of “several hundred million francs”.
In other words, the company that ranked first in the 2015 and 2016 TOP 100 startups list is clearly banking on a leap into mass production. Up until now, this exemplary business was successful in the niche market of optical quality control, which is crucial for manufacturers of watches and medical implants, among others. In these industries, it is critical to be able to see and measure the elements under evaluation as effectively as possible, either with the naked eye or some form of camera. And there is currently no better tool available for this than a uniform and collimated
L.E.S.S. light.
Founded in the EPF Lausanne Innovation Park in Ecublens in 2012, the company views its lights as competition for LED technology, which takes up too much space, is too inefficient and produces light beams that are not even enough. The alternative developed by L.E.S.S. is the result of dissertations written by the two founders about photonics and non-linear optics. The key innovation is an active fibre optic cable based on a single nanostructured glass fibre. The nanofibres that pass through the laser light are comparable to neon tube lighting – except that they are thinner than a human hair and provide bright, homogeneous light.
And now these advantages are making their way into our cars. Apart from the headlights, all the other lights in a car can be fitted with this “nano active fibre technology”. The major benefits: the L.E.S.S. products use less energy and weigh only half as much as conventional car lights. They also open up completely new possibilities in relation to the design of the lights. But above all it’s their outstanding efficiency that make them so appealing to manufacturers of electric cars. “We have a huge amount to offer in that regard,” says Yann Tissot.
The young company with 12 employees is now a fully fledged market player. It will soon depart the innovation park and move into its own production facilities in Renens. In 2018, staff numbers are set to swell to over 30 people. Next year they expect to produce “several
thousand” quality control products, because the first market L.E.S.S. tapped into is currently flourishing. Yet this is just the beginning. “Our challenge will be to supply the necessary quantities for the automotive market,” explains Yann Tissot.
After all, L.E.S.S. has its fingers in several automotive pies. The team from Lausanne not only collaborates with manufacturers, but also with car light suppliers. And they will need plenty of money for the impending growth spurt. In 2018 the startup plans to have a second round of financing, “definitely in the double-digit million range”.
L.E.S.S. is focusing on Germany in particular. Tissot reports that so far interest has come from companies and family foundations. “They are used to investing in long-term industrial projects.” If German investors become heavily involved in L.E.S.S., there will be “enormous pressure” to also begin producing in Germany, says Tissot. “But that’s still a long way off and in the future we definitely want to retain our business activities in Switzerland, too.”
TEXT: KASPAR MEULI