We’re now Spansive

Winning Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 was the thrilling culmination of 18 months of hard work. Today we’re celebrating another 18 months of hard work with a huge announcement: we are rebranding from Pi to Spansive.

Spansive is from the root expansive. It means growth, expansion, and action. There is nothing metaphorical about our new name. Our team is growing, our business is expanding, and we are about to ship our first product.

We’re excited to unveil this new vision and explain why we’re making this change.

1) We’re expanding our vision

When Lixin and I first started Pi in 2015, we were focused on building the world’s best wireless power product. A few major electronics companies approached us about integrating our technology into their products — we said no. With the launch of our first consumer product imminent (more on that below) it is time to publicly expand our vision to include partnering with leading device makers in consumer, enterprise, and commercial applications.

2) We’re expanding our product lineup for consumers & partners

Our team has developed two different wireless power platforms for a variety of applications. We’ve had a few early confidential conversations and the response has been incredible. We are seeing strong interest across applications — a few interesting examples: headphone manufacturers, conference room device makers, and automakers. Unfortunately, the “Pi” trademark just wasn’t able to grow with our ambitions into this space — Spansive can.

3) We’re expanding our team

Pi is a name inextricably linked with science and technology, and our team has always included world-class scientists and engineers. But we are now so much more, including gifted marketers, designers, and creative professionals. At Spansive, we design products for people, not just devices.

3.14) A little more about that new product

After closing our Series A funding with Foundry Group, our team set to work creating the world’s best wireless charging experience that is Qi compatible (the wireless charging standard found in the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel). Qi has a number of unique constraints that we’ve had to work within, so this product will look and function much differently than the prototype we showed at TechCrunch Disrupt.

We’re not going to say more today, but I want to set expectations about this exciting product:

It will ship imminently. It will not be cone-shaped and will not charge your phone while you hold it in the air — instead, it will include a convenient place to rest and organize multiple phones to charge. It won’t even require a receiver case to charge. That was the biggest piece of feedback we got after TechCrunch, so we made sure our new product will work with your favorite protective case or no case at all!

Expect a Qi-compatible experience that unlocks the real value of the wireless charging already built into your phone. Expect our cutting edge magnetic field-shaping technology hidden in a beautiful design, perfect for your kitchen, living room, bedroom, or office. Expect the best family and shared space power source in the world. You can see a little tease of the new product on our new site — www.spansive.co.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our team on our journey. Thank you to those who signed up for our email and reservation list (we’ve also emailed you directly to express our gratitude). Thank you to our business and life partners who have helped us test and refine our new product, and develop this wonderful new brand. Thank you to our investors for their enthusiasm and encouragement. Thank you most of all to our incredible team for making this expansion of our vision into a reality.

We can’t wait to show you the fruit of our labor in the coming months. If you’d like to keep updated on this next phase of our journey and be the first to know when our new product launches, please sign up for our email list at www.spansive.co.

Sincerely,

John MacDonald
CEO & Co-Founder
Spansive.co

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