Forget the Cords— uBeam Charges Gadgets With Sound

Energy Can Be extracted from wind, water, and light. uBeam is adding sound to that list. Meredith Perry, 26-year-old and her startup, uBeam, are turning sound waves into wireless power for charging gadgets. And unlike other wireless power-ups, her version doesn’t require the gadget to be touching the charger. Instead, uBeam sends ultrasound waves—inaudible to humans—from a special transmitter to a receiver in a smartphone case. Perry hopes her technology will eventually be embedded in all electronics. “Our goal is to make wireless power ubiquitous,” she says. And she has $13.2 million in funding from the likes of Peter Thiel, Mark Cuban, and Marissa Mayer to make it happen next year.