Welcome to the ninth edition of our newsletter - never sitting still, as we progress our product and our fundraising. This newsletter is aimed at investors, collaborators, future hires and early adopters of our products.
This week saw World Asthma Day, which prompted us to think more deeply about the impact of air pollution on this widespread disease, as well as engage more with our new partners in Every Breath Counts Coalition. Air pollution poses a significant challenge to asthmatics, especially those who maintain an active lifestyle. At Air Aware Labs, our first product is already proving to be a painkiller for asthmatics who exercise. We want to reduce the cost of asthma to the health service (£1 billion in the UK alone) with our real-time, high-resolution air quality modelling enabling individuals to avoid pollution hotspots, plan safer outdoor activities, and minimise their exposure to harmful air pollutants. Please join us on this mission - Personalising Air Quality, for everyone.
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Hot off the press
- we are getting ready for our next feature roll outs for our Strava integration. To support this we have been deep in user interviews, which has been incredibly insightful. We also delight in getting unsolicited feedback from users (even when it's challenging!) as this is telling us that our product is meaningful for people, far and wide
- we have been focusing on some strategic issues such as our data strategy and approach towards intellectual property. One of the joys of start ups is working across the board and making everything hang together consistently. Thank you to our advisers for bringing the expertise to make this happen!
- our fundraising has really picked up in the last couple of weeks and we now have significant commitments. Talk to us or see our listings on UKBAA, Barclays demo directory, Dealroom, Envestors and fundmypitch (forthcoming).
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Go with us towards clean air
- we've gained a huge amount from our short programme with Sustainable Ventures. We are about to start a new accelerator next week. Full details to come! We are very excited to grow our business with another group of mission-driven start ups, and gain access to significant expertise and networks
- we are following up leads for potential interns and experienced volunteers to help us turbo-charge (with clean power) our product roll out. We are looking for marketing and software experience in particular. If you have any suggestions, please let us know!
- we continue to be amazed by all the support we get from far and wide. Big shout outs to Jenny Millar Sam Simpson David Murray-Hundley The Grumpy Entrepreneur Andrew Brook Tom Maverley Abeed Janmohamed Oshobugie Idogho Wayne Strydom Janet Martin Zak Preston Claire Phelan Miranda Sharp Jessica Winn Andrew Le Seelleur MBE David Riallant Daniel Macaulay Katherine Marcham Leith Greenslade Matt Venning Julie Blane Emma Broadbent Ian Ozsvald Geoffrey Lloyd Edward Harris Kaja Milczewska Ruaraidh Dobson Helen Buchan Chris Mitchell Noelle Morgan ACC, CPC, ELI-MP Thomas Sfeir Paolo Vicini Ashlie Jineth Tapias Silva Patrick Healy Louise Watkinson Miguel Martinez Andrea Sommer Cherry Swayne Ula Caroto, Chartered FCSI (she/her). We hope you'll all continue with us towards clean air.
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Meet the advisers
Our wonderful advisers are also providing huge help to us. This week we are meeting Adesola Adebowale, our finance adviser. Adesola is a venture capital investor with an interest in early-stage startups. Over the last four years, she has invested in Pre-seed to Series A companies across Europe, the US, and the emerging markets. Before her time in venture capital, she worked in investment banking in New York and London at UBS and Barclays. Adesola holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Loughborough University. As an investor, she sees a growing interest in climate technologies; however, solutions addressing air quality specifically - an unspoken challenge in big cities such as London - are few and far between.
Adesola says: As a scientist at heart, I am very excited by what Air Aware Labs is building. From providing the necessary information for athletes to optimise their performance to enabling individuals with underlying health conditions to manage their exposure, the applications are vast, and the solution is relevant and interesting. The team has gotten off to an exciting start, and I look forward to our continued partnership and to seeing what the future holds!
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Get in touch
Please follow Air Aware Labs to stay in touch with our progress. If anything in this newsletter has piqued your interest, please send me (Louise Thomas) or William Hicks a message!
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More newsletters
Although the Venture Builder has finished, we will never forget our fellow ZINC teams. Please read and subscribe to newsletters of others in cohort 7:
