Air pollution kills. Air Aware Labs provides personalised air quality insights to arm people with the information they need to protect their health.
See our guide to this year’s hottest new businesses and most exceptional founders in the complete 2026 Startups 100 index.
Founders: Louise Thomas, Will Hicks, Sacha Manson-Smith and Dan Harris
Year founded: 2024
Website: airawarelabs.com
It was every parent’s nightmare. Standing outside of their child’s primary school with a handheld monitor measuring air pollution, and seeing the results, but knowing that the data wasn’t enough to compel action.
One thing it did compel, though, was the founders of the London-based Air Aware Labs to kickstart their venture – a platform to give personalised health insights with air pollution data.
As the team explains, “air pollution data isn’t personalised so people can’t protect their health. It is the largest environmental threat to health, yet the data is overly generalised so it doesn’t help people understand something as simple as the air they breathe.”
The statistics are terrifying. The founders quote the State of Global Air Report, which details that there are eight million deaths worldwide each year; and 36,000 in the UK. They knew that they needed to act. But the team admit they were warned that getting investors on board would be impossible. “We were told that air pollution was uninvestable”, they relay.
Thankfully, persistence and a (slow) growing awareness of the health impact of air pollution meant they eventually raised an over-subscribed pre-seed round early last year.
Education is a large part of their work as each meeting with a B2B partner is a chance to talk about the impact of pollution. The team has also written four blogs with the World Economic Forum and has forged a partnership with the World Economic Forum Clean Air Alliance – which is more than 20 major corporations committed to reducing the impact of air pollution. Other partnerships include Global Sustainable Sport and Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans), the active travel charity.
The venture’s app, AirTrack, is today widely used by outdoors enthusiasts to get detailed insights into air pollution exposure and now has 2,200 users with minimal marketing spend.
The team now works with an increasing number of businesses; but it has its sights on becoming the leading environmental health company globally. The ultimate aim is preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide; and it is well on this path.
View the full Startups 100 Index for 2026
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