First Light Technologies Ltd
3303B Tennyson Avenue , Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Our mission is to make outdoor spaces better for people. To make solar lighting the first choice for pedestrian scale lighting, we work relentlessly to improve the performance, design and simplicity of our lights so that they are the most cost effective, easy to install, stylish, robust and reliable option.

Sean Bourquin and Justin Taverna were colleagues at a leading commercial solar power and LED signal lighting company back when the industry was cutting its teeth and trying to gain acceptance. The company’s mission – to prove the mettle of solar and LED technology – was inspiring. But for Justin and Sean, the desire to grow, do more and test their own ideas, became a source of increasing opportunity.

A Clear Opportunity

The two believed in the potential of solar lighting. Their customers were telling them they wanted inexpensive, reliable solar lights for a broad spectrum of outdoor lighting applications. The company had already defined what LED and solar technology could do in possibly the most environmentally challenging sector on earth – marine navigation. Why couldn’t they do the same for street, parking lot and pedestrian lighting? Eventually, the desire to do more led to change.

Early Success

Sean and Justin started First Light as a consultancy. They did solar power system design work for Homeland Security, LED market research for a Green Tech investor, LED lighting design for the Colombian Air Force, market and product research for an Italian lighting company, and a host of work that took them across the globe. They designed more than 400 solar power systems in more than 20 countries in under two years. Justin and Sean didn’t have a nest egg, or seed money to fall back on – they had mortgages to pay and families to support. Serendipitously, the drive to win accounts became a catalyst for developing essential business skills, forming and deepening relationships, and testing ideas for future products.