INTERVIEW/Conrad Burke, general manager, DuPont Innovalight:IT TAKES a lot to knock Conrad Burke off his stride. The Wicklow man has just sold his US solar energy firm Innovalight to chemical giant DuPont in a deal understood to have netted well north of $60 million for Burke and his investors. But from his calm and measured tones as he speaks down the phone from California, success is not going to his head.
The Trinity and UCD physics graduate has dedicated six years of his life to Innovalight, turning it from an incubator for researching technologies in the area of LED lighting based in Minnesota to an “arms dealer” to the solar energy industry which has contracts with some of the biggest makers of solar panels in the world. The Silicon Valley company had raised over $60 million from international venture capitalists and when DuPont, which last year sold more than $1 billion of materials to the solar sector, came knocking, Burke couldn’t say no.
The night before we speak he had dinner with the president of DuPont but, in the manner that those who know him would recognise, Burke made his excuses early as he had a staff event the next day to celebrate the sale. From there he was getting on a plane to Europe for a two-week holiday with his family.
The Innovalight story began in St Paul, Minnesota, in 2006. Burke, a veteran of corporate roles with NEC and ATT in Japan and the US, was fresh from a stint as a venture capitalist with US firm Sevin Rosen and was looking for a start-up opportunity. A self-admitted “sucker for technology”, particularly anything pushing the boundaries of physics, he saw the potential in a small group of researchers and upped the company to Silicon Valley where it became Innovalight.
The sale is not just a financial vindication of Burke. While he saw Innovalight’s research into solid-state materials could find better traction in solar energy rather than lighting, he was forced to make a pivotal decision in 2008. The company was going to make its own solar panels which would be more efficient than competitors’ thanks to Innovalight’s secret sauce – its patented silicon ink. Applying the nanoparticle material to panels can up their efficiency from typically capturing 17.5 per cent of the sun’s energy to as high as 19 per cent. It might not sound that big a deal, but as Burke puts it, that can have an enormous impact on a manufacturer’s bottom line.
But the Chinese had embraced solar with gusto and with their low-cost manufacturing and design skills quickly began to dominate the market. Burke realised he couldn’t compete and decided Innovalight would have to start supplying the Asian manufacturers if it was to survive.
“I’ll be honest: it wasn’t too popular a decision with some of our investors and the board,” remembers Burke. “But they quickly realised it was the right thing to do.”
With 80 per cent of the world’s solar panels now made in Asia – the Germans and Scandinavians had a similar dominance of the market as recently as five years ago – the decision now looks prescient. Burke says “everyone is ecstatic” at Innovalight’s sale – staff, the board and shareholders – but he won’t be drawn on any financial details. Given that Innovalight raised just over $60 million from investors, it’s safe to assume the amount paid is a premium on this. But even that suggestion draws an uncharacteristically curt “I can’t discuss any terms” response from Burke.
Burke left Ireland shortly after graduation in the teeth of the country’s last major recession but is a regular visitor to these shores. Last year he was one of 24 nominees for the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and ultimately won the emerging entrepreneur category. He’s also been involved with the Irish Technology Leadership Group, helping fledgling Irish tech firms to find their feet in the US, took part in the first Farmleigh forum and is returning in October for its second iteration at Dublin Castle.
He keeps up to date with Irish current affairs and while admitting to being slightly out of touch is upbeat about the country’s economic prospects. “The IDA is announcing an awful lot of deals and there is some pretty substantial foreign direct investment coming into the country,” says Burke.
Burke now becomes general manager of DuPont Innovalight and he says all 60 of the company’s staff will be staying on. Isn’t he concerned about the change in culture – going from a plucky, fast-moving start-up to a 200-year-old multinational with revenues in excess of $32 billion?
“I’m not too worried, remember I did actually work for big corporate companies before,” he says. “I will miss some of the start-up attributes but I won’t miss having to raise new capital and having to worry about everything. I’ve been running out of money for six years,” he laughs.
Although probably best known as a manufacturer of chemicals, DuPont now styles itself as the company that “puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions”. About 70 per cent of solar panels manufactured today contain DuPont materials, so it was no surprise that as Innovalight grew, it came to be on the multinational’s radar.
“The companies have known each other for two years but for the last four or five months we’ve been in intense due diligence which culminated in the announcement ,” says Burke. “They are a very professional company. It was a lot of work, but we are all pleased we got to the finish line.”
DuPont has a target of $2 billion in revenues from the sector by 2014, and given recent growth in solar panel sales worldwide, it looks achievable. Burke says sales grew 100 per cent last year and have averaged about 40 per cent growth over the last few years.
“It’s becoming a cut-throat commodity business so the key is to find where you can participate,” says Burke. “Commodity markets are a tough place to be but they are also good because there is a lot of money around.”
Having been ATT’s youngest ever director, don’t be surprised if Burke goes on to help DuPont become a dominant player in the solar energy arms race.
On the record
Name: Conrad Burke
Position: General manager, DuPont Innovalight
Age: 45
Lives: Sunnyvale, California
Family: Married with children aged 14 and 15
Hobbies: Tennis and staying fit."A former boss once told me that 'if you are going to be a CEO, you have to stay fit because it's a lot of stress'."
Why he is in the news: Innovalight, which Burke founded and of which he was chief executive, was acquired by multinational giant DuPont last week.
Something you might expect: He is currently enjoying his first two-week holiday in the six years since he founded Innovalight.
Something that might surprise: Despite being a physics graduate, Burke managed to raise $60 million for Innovalight without using investment bankers.
