D.Light Design Wins Ashden Awards

[media-credit name="Snigdha Sengupta" align="alignnone" width="199"][/media-credit]D.Light Design, a startup which makes solar-powered LED lanterns for developing world consumers, has won the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2010. The Cayman Islands registered company won £40,000 as the Gold Award winner this year. D.Light’s lamps enable users to replace kerosene lamps that tend to be more expensive and hazardous to health. The company’s lamps (the ‘kiran’ in photo) are priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,600 and can provide light  up to 12 hours on a full charge.

“The judges were particularly impressed with their highly effective marketing strategy which has put solar lighting within reach of over a million people in 32 countries…” said Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder-director of the Ashden Awards. The awards were instituted in 2001 to encourage the greater use of local sustainable energy to address climate change and alleviate poverty. So far, they have rewarded 140 winners globally. The total prize money this year, shared by five winners, including D.Light, was £140,000.

This is the second windfall for the solar lighting company in recent days. Just last week it announced a $5.5 million Series B round of funding led by Omidyar Network. Existing investors Acumen Fund, Gray Matters Capital, Draper Fisher Jurverston and Garage Technology Ventures also participated in this round. The company raised $6 million in Series A funding in November 2008. Other investors include Nexus Venture Partners and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Read founder-CEO Sam Goldman’s blog for more on the D.Light story. The company’s Indian operations, which primarily involve marketing and sales, are headquartered in New Delhi.

(Source: Press Release)