For innovations to enhance U.S. competitiveness, they must move from the lab to the market, which can be a long and challenging process. LongPath Technologies Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Greg Reiker told the story of how his company made the journey from initial investment to successful business.
According to Dr. Greg Reiker, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of LongPath Technologies, the concept behind their technology is straightforward, despite its cutting-edge implementation. Every year, oil and gas fields in the United States emit billions of cubic meters of methane into the atmosphere. Up to 10 percent of the methane produced annually in the United States is lost due to leaks, reflecting a significant environmental and financial concern. To address this challenge, the Department of Energy, through ARPA-E, initiated a program focused on finding solutions.
“A ‘village’ of support and investment made LongPath Technologies a success.”
Dr. Greg Rieker
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
LongPath Technologies
Lasers and quantum sensing emerged as promising options. When certain frequency lasers excite molecules, they undergo a detectable quantum state change, creating a unique “fingerprint” for identification. Developed at NIST in the 1990s, this technology can detect specific molecules from great distances. Dr. Reiker recognized its potential for solving the methane detection issue but needed support from multiple agencies to bridge the gap between conception and commercial deployment. CU Venture Partners, a grant from ARPA-E, and Colorado OEDIT provided the necessary funding for testing in an oil field, while Innosphere facilitated connections with commercial investors.
The first commercial deployment occurred in 2020, demonstrating the viability of the concept. However, the initial funding limits proved insufficient, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when oil prices briefly fell sharply, adversely affecting potential customers' ability to invest in the technology. Dr. Reiker credited a $5 million grant from the DOE with saving LongPath, enabling them to attract an additional $30 million from private investors. This funding facilitated the recruitment of experienced executive leadership and the expansion of the company’s infrastructure. By 2024, the technology was deployed in all oil fields in the United States, with a record mitigation of six billion cubic feet of methane leakage that year. A $160 million loan from the DOE, secured last year, will further accelerate LongPath's growth, with Dr. Reiker anticipating a hundred-fold expansion in impact.
Dr. Reiker shared a crucial lesson from LongPath's journey: the company's success hinged on the support of various institutions at critical junctures. He described these organizations as essential “bridges” over multiple “valleys of death” that threatened the project's success. Projecting his experience onto the broader U.S. innovation ecosystem, he noted that if any of these bridges — whether in investment or intellectual infrastructure — were to falter, the breakdown would be significant. Strengthening these connections, however, would support more companies like LongPath to achieve commercial success.
