Sir Richard Branson-backed air quality tech firm raises $3m to expand in UK
Airly, the air quality tech firm backed by Sir Richard Branson, has raised $3.3m in a funding round to expand its platform globally.
The company, which provides AI-driven insights on air pollution, is planning to open offices in the UK and the US and double its staff count.
It currently counts Philips, Virgin, Innogy, PwC, Veolia and Skanska among its customers, and provides air quality information to 600 local governments and cities across the world.
The latest funding round was led by Firstminute Capital, and investors include Uber founder Garrett Camp, Bolt boss Markus Villig and founding editor-in-chief of Wired David Rowan.
Previous investors including Sir Richard Branson and Henkel board member Konstantin von Unger also participated in the latest funding round.
Giant Ventures and the family of British venture capitalist Sir Ronald Cohen have previously backed the tech firm.
Airly chief executive and co-founder Wiktor Warchałowski said: “Polluted air is a plague on our health – it’s like a pandemic in slow motion. Improving air quality needs to be at the core of the world’s post-pandemic rebuild and Airly is the first step to pollution-free cities.
“With this funding, we can expand our global footprint to support even more cities, enterprises and communities to repair the air and empower them with data and actionable insights.”