Waseem Ashraf Qureshi: Scale is everything when creating groundbreaking tech
CEO, Infusion Power Industries reveals how new technology can be a true disruptor
Entrepreneur and inventor, Waseem Ashraf Qureshi is the co-founder and CEO of powerhouse Made in UAE brands, Infusion Power Industries, and Infusion Solar Energy Systems, as well as the US-based Kilowatt Labs, Inc. The group manufactures and sells Qureshi’s energy storage invention, Sirius supercap storage, the degradation-free, non-chemical, fast-charging, recyclable and biodegradable alternative to batteries.
According to Qureshi, inventing groundbreaking technologies can only disrupt industries and markets and make a difference if they make the journey from lab to the market place, at scale. “Otherwise, they are just trophies on a shelf.”
The art of commercialisation requires navigating numerous landscapes concurrently – team building, capital formation, partner development, sales, branding, investor relations, certifications, supply chain, regulations, legal, audit and banking. Each of these standalone verticals present their own sets of rules, regulations, practices, and processes.
“I have been inventing technologies since the age of 15, and experience has taught me that innovation must be practiced in the entire process, not just in building the technology,” says Qureshi. “Entrepreneurship is innovating the entire value chain, and success as an entrepreneur is difficult without it.”
Since launching Kilowatt Labs, Inc., in the US, Qureshi has developed an innovative global stockist model enabling global distribution with capital efficiency, a reseller model that has rolled out in more than 40 countries with a fraction of the investment required if done conventionally. The Open Frame Sirius partner programme leverages industry knowledge to develop and roll out market-specific products economically and quickly, and has now set his sights on innovating the capital formation process, as the business begins to grow exponentially.
A holding company incorporated in Singapore, Enercap will be consolidating value to various subsidiaries by commercialising Qureshi’s technologies, and new investors in Enercap. In addition to traditional capital formation avenues such as private equity, trade finance, venture debt etc. Enercap is actively reviewing new innovations in finance including bitcoin, blockchain, digital fractional ownership and more.
Qureshi says, “We are in a tough place because our requirements are larger than ticket sizes of VC, while traditional financing avenues tend to favour companies with a longer history than ours, so we have to find a way around this conundrum, and fintech might be the way forward. We just have to figure out how.”
Based on his past record of inventing disruptive technologies and commercialising them, there is a strong likelihood that Enercap will find an innovative model to solve its current challenges and continue to grow exponentially.