Welcome to the eleventh edition of our newsletter - as we expand our team and formally join the GoodTech Ventures accelerator. This newsletter is aimed at investors, collaborators, future hires and early adopters of our products.

While most people associate air pollution with respiratory conditions, a major study has come out from the World Heart Federation demonstrating that 70% of mortality attributed to outdoor air pollution is in fact related to cardiovascular disease, including strokes. This is not just a long-term health risk: we heard from a leading doctor this week how seizures as a result of heart arrhythmia can be triggered by increased levels of air pollution. Through our work we want to reduce all of these risks of air pollution exposure. Please join us on this mission - Personalising Air Quality, for everyone.

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Hot off the press

• we have joined the GoodTech Ventures second cohort. This 6 month programme is run by Catch22 in partnership with Social Tech Trust and Unity Ventures with support from Ufi VocTech Trust, Microsoft and the UK government. We have already benefitted from fantastic expertise just in the first month of the programme. Exciting to be recognised as a pioneer in our field already!
• we have been working with British doctors cycling to Geneva to raise awareness of air pollution. We have provided detailed air pollution data for their whole week's ride, which they used to support their address to the World Health Assembly. This is also a sneak preview of the technology we are developing for future feature roll outs
• the Patagonia Running up for Air challenge has kicked off. Many of the runners have been using our Strava tool to track their air pollution as they complete their vertical challenge. And the big reveal - we are going to name our fitness-focused product AirTrack, thanks to feedback from our users!

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Go with us towards clean air

• next week is a big week as we move into due diligence with various investors on our pre-seed raise. Thanks to everyone who has helped us get this far. Drop us a line if you want to join!
• with our new intern, Fallon, on board, we will be trying out new channels and approaches to marketing. We welcome all engagement and feedback!
• we continue to be amazed by all the support we get from far and wide. Big shout outs to Yu Ri Catherine Jeong Jessica Barlow 🚀 Tom Maverley Caelie Hawkins Nina Hampson Shany Stephany Mark Bower-Easton James Groves Alexander Hirsch Laura Citron Olivia Wing Gideon Hoffman Christine Cowin Konstantinos Dimakos Abeed Janmohamed Douglas Squirrel Arif A. Wani Michael Solomon Thomas Sfeir Nemi Badrisingh Simon Hopkins Anna Sandgren Tamar Moise, Ph.D Jeffery Smith Bikram Bose Salvatore D'Urso ACMA, CGMA Richard Oakley Henry Yates Roxane Sanguinetti Daniel Wardle Ben Brabyn. We hope you'll all continue with us towards clean air.

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Meet the team

This week we welcome our first ever intern, Fallon Parrish, joining via AES | Experiential Learning & Living. Fallon is currently a rising 3rd year student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she is studying Global Studies Environments and Sustainability. She is involved in many environmental-based activities through her university. Her main involvement is through a service-based club called Global Problems Local Solution, where she has been able to help the local Charlottesville community incorporate more sustainable living practices. Through this, she is heavily involved in the club's marketing which has allowed her to gain knowledge in social media management and outreach techniques that will be vital to her time at Air Aware Labs.

Fallon says: I am excited to be a part of Air Aware Labs this summer. Air Aware Labs' mission to bring attention to air quality is very important. Their mission deeply resonates with me. As a young adult, the ever-growing climate change issues have raised concern. Now more than ever there needs to be a push towards change. What Air Aware Labs is doing concerning air quality is what we need to help combat climate change issues. I’m looking forward to this upcoming summer.

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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:

• Pavandeep Rai here
• Marjo Palanee here
• Donna Egan here
• Josh Piddock here
• Guy Naor here
• Veronika Bridgman here
• Lisa Rickers here
• Natalia Baltazar here

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