AeroSpec gets the CHF 150,000 Kick to improve air quality contributing to better global health
30.01.2024
AeroSpec's technology measures the chemical composition of aerosol pollution, offering detailed insights into its source, composition, and health effects. The EPFL spin-off was financed with CHF 150,000 by Venture Kick, winning the third stage of the program.
 AeroSpec's co-founders: CSO Satoshi Takahama and CEO Nikunj Dudani
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According to the WHO, air pollution is “the world’s largest single environmental health risk”. A key challenge lies in accurately measuring the different chemical components of aerosol air pollution, identifying emission sources, and understanding the potential health effects. Current methods, which are limited and focus on specific elements of pollution, are costly and require expert labor for operation. This gap has created a pressing need for a comprehensive and automated monitoring tool. AeroSpec’s automated Aerosol InfraRed (AIR) Monitor offers a solution, performing the chemical composition and source signature analysis through a novel aerosol collector and infrared spectroscopy.
AeroSpec targets three primary markets: aerosol researchers, monitoring agencies, and various industries that need to measure emissions. Specifically, they aim to capture the 20% import fraction of the multi-billion-dollar air quality monitoring market, showing robust growth in emerging markets. The annual global market of air-quality monitoring is around 5 billion USD and grows at around 5% every year, with some markets showing a stronger growth rate of 10% per annum.
AeroSpec will invest CHF 150,000 to expand the team and deploy resources to produce and sell instruments to initial customers. The investment will also empower the team to streamline fundraising and sales and expand quickly into the relevant markets. They plan to open a seed round in March and the investment from Venture Kick bolsters their position at an opportune moment for Aerospec.
Founders Dr. Nikunj Dudani, CEO, and Dr. Satoshi Takahama, Scientific Expert, are incubating AeroSpec at EPFL and plan to incorporate it soon.
“The Venture Kick experience has been pivotal in Aerospec’s journey – where the stage 1 award coincided with our market growth and stage 3 with our incorporation. The structure of the program with the Jury Q&A, feedback and Kicker Camps ensures that clear feedback from diverse, relevant, and experienced personnel is accessible to a startup right from the start,” commented Nikunj Dudani. “The team benefits greatly from participating by understanding what questions are important to the market and potential investors and hence in aligning personal motivations too. The advancement that Aerospec has gained along with the Venture Kick stages is surely greatly credited to the entire program and ecosystem too as the timely meetings, feedback and very importantly focus on future achievements proved to be highly valuable.”
AeroSpec targets three primary markets: aerosol researchers, monitoring agencies, and various industries that need to measure emissions. Specifically, they aim to capture the 20% import fraction of the multi-billion-dollar air quality monitoring market, showing robust growth in emerging markets. The annual global market of air-quality monitoring is around 5 billion USD and grows at around 5% every year, with some markets showing a stronger growth rate of 10% per annum.
AeroSpec will invest CHF 150,000 to expand the team and deploy resources to produce and sell instruments to initial customers. The investment will also empower the team to streamline fundraising and sales and expand quickly into the relevant markets. They plan to open a seed round in March and the investment from Venture Kick bolsters their position at an opportune moment for Aerospec.
Founders Dr. Nikunj Dudani, CEO, and Dr. Satoshi Takahama, Scientific Expert, are incubating AeroSpec at EPFL and plan to incorporate it soon.
“The Venture Kick experience has been pivotal in Aerospec’s journey – where the stage 1 award coincided with our market growth and stage 3 with our incorporation. The structure of the program with the Jury Q&A, feedback and Kicker Camps ensures that clear feedback from diverse, relevant, and experienced personnel is accessible to a startup right from the start,” commented Nikunj Dudani. “The team benefits greatly from participating by understanding what questions are important to the market and potential investors and hence in aligning personal motivations too. The advancement that Aerospec has gained along with the Venture Kick stages is surely greatly credited to the entire program and ecosystem too as the timely meetings, feedback and very importantly focus on future achievements proved to be highly valuable.”