The women behind solar start up LuminAID are innovators to keep an eye on — at least according to Forbes, and all five investors on Shark Tank! On February 7th, they’re launching their newest product on Kickstarter: the PackLite Max Phone Charger.
The PackLite Max Phone Charger is a powerful, ultra-bright lantern that packs down to less than 1″ thick and doubles as a solar phone charger for off-the-grid charging anywhere in the world. A “Give Light, Get Light” component will give backers the choice to provide a light to a Syrian refugee through one of LuminAID’s partner charities.
The All-New PackLite Max Phone Charger from LuminAID:
Launching on Kickstarter Tuesday, 2/7
Full-size 150-lumen lantern that packs down to 1″ thick
50-hour max run time per charge & you can charge it via solar power or USB input
Weighs only 8.5oz — less than a paperback book and about the same size!
Ready to withstand the toughest conditions — LuminAID designs gear for first responders to use after disasters
Early Bird backers will be able to snag one for just $30
Want to light up the life of a Syrian refugee? Choose the Give Light, Get Light reward option to receive one light for yourself, and send one to a nonprofit helping Syrian refugees as well.
“When we were students first creating our technology in 2010, we designed it with the needs of disaster victims in mind. We wanted to provide comfort and safety after dark to those who had lost everything,” says LuminAID co-founder Anna Stork. “It’s 2017 now, and we live in an increasingly connected world — there are actually more more mobile phones than people on the planet! With this campaign, we’re expanding our mission beyond light to connection: making sure that people all around the world have not just light to read by, but a sustainable source of power to charge their devices and stay connected to loved ones and educational opportunities.”
LuminAID’s Give Light, Get Light program allows customers of the solar company to purchase a light for themselves, and choose to add on a sponsored light that will be distributed through a LuminAID partner charity. LuminAID has been working to provide lights to refugees fleeing violence in Syria for the past two years, and phone charging capability has been a frequent request from nonprofit partners. The new PackLite Max Phone Charger will allow refugees to charge their mobile phones to stay connected with loved ones, and can be inflated into a full-sized lantern that can output up to 150 lumens of light — enough to light a refugee family’s home or tent. The PackLite Max Phone Charger can run for up to 50 hours on the low lantern setting, so it will hold enough charge from a single sunny day to provide light over the course of a week for a family.
“SCM is so pleased to be working with LuminAID to get solar lanterns into the hands of refugees in Greece and Jordan who don’t have a reliable and safe source of lighting.” said Rita Zawaideh, CEO of SCM, “Not only are the lanterns addressing a safety issue (fires from gas lanterns) but as more children are getting enrolled in schools, the more they need to be able to study in the evenings after the sun has gone down. It’s so important to support the children as they get back to their studies as they truly are the future of Syria.”
The campaign has a fundraising goal of $15,000. The first PackLite Max Phone Chargers will be available to ship to campaign backers in March 2017. The LuminAID team is aiming to send 500 lights to Syrian refugees through the Give Light, Get Light component of the Kickstarter campaign, to be distributed by their nonprofit partner SCM Medical Missions. The first shipment of lights will be sent to Jordan, where they will be distributed in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, currently the largest refugee camp in the world.
About LuminAID
When we think of our most basic human needs, we often think of food, water and shelter. But when architecture graduate students Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta were asked to design a product to assist post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, they considered the dangerous conditions at night in the tent cities and turned their attention to another critical need: light. They designed the LuminAID light to be easily distributed in time of need by packing and shipping flat.
In 2015, Anna and Andrea went on the hit TV show Shark Tank, and wowed the “Sharks” so much that they got offers from every Shark! They accepted an offer from Mark Cuban, and he is the company’s first investor. When asked why Cuban chose LuminAID as one of his Shark Tank investments, he remarked,” I look for smart people, a product that is unique in some way and something that fills a particular need for society. LuminAID is an example of an innovation that solves a problem for society.”
About LuminAID’s Give Light, Get Light Program
Through LuminAID’s Give Light, Get Light program, customers can purchase a LuminAID light for themselves and sponsor another one to be distributed by one of LuminAID’s charitable partners. Over 40,000 lights have been provided to those in need through the support of the Give Light, Get Light program, and LuminAID lights are in use in over 70 countries around the world. LuminAID has been working with nonprofit partners to provide lights to Syrian refugees for the past two years, and partners have distributed lights to refugees in Lebanon, Greece, France, and Jordan.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/02/prweb14044605.htm