BC Business
Technology | BCBusiness
Light-Based Technologies Inc. of Vancouver is folding up shop. After seeking a buyer for the company, CEO Art Aylesworth reports that “No offers to acquire or invest were received and the company is rapidly running out of cash. Unfortunately… the board was left with no alternative but to wind down the company.”
The maker of electronic controls for LED lights, which was profiled in BCBusiness in 2010, got its start in 2004 when Jeanette Jackson built a company around technology developed by her father, Vern Jackson. Jeanette Jackson was replaced in 2011 by Aylesworth, a 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year winner and former CEO of Carmanah Technologies Corp. The management shakeup was concurrent with an investment of US$7.5 million led by VantagePoint Venture Partners of San Bruno, California, and Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital of Vancouver.
Other investors in the company include Vancouver’s GreenAngel Energy Corp., led by Michael Volker, which announced on December 2 that it will write down its $390,000 investment in the company.
“It’s a disappointment. We thought it would be one of our bigger and earlier exits,” says Volker. “It looked like it would be a pretty short turnaround. Everything was looking good until quite recently. In technology, new products can move in quite quickly, and Light-Based Technologies couldn’t move fast enough.”