Welcome to the nineteenth edition of our newsletter - as we build our team and prioritise our roadmap after our successful AirTrack launch! This newsletter is aimed at investors, collaborators, future hires and early adopters of our products.

Last edition we looked at the impact on school children. Recently, the impact before birth and for pregnant women has been on our minds. Our article from the summer got huge engagement yet the intersect between pollution and maternal health is rarely explored. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has recently put out a position statement on air pollution, which is hugely welcomed. We hope to bring solutions in the coming months. Please join us on our mission - Personalising Air Quality, for everyone.

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Hot off the press

• we spent Tuesday at the Imperial College campus. We had the opportunity to pitch to Imperial Venture Mentoring Service, and got to know the Enterprise Lab. Thanks Imperial!
• we've been talking to TripShift and presenting at Mobilityways Zero Carbon Commuting Conference, making the connection between low-carbon commuting and reducing exposure to air pollution. The connections are strong - exposure during active travel is likely to be lower than if you commute by car, while demonstrating how to support employee health and productivity brings a new angle to net zero objectives
• we have been investigating employee wellbeing platforms and offers as a way to bring our AirTrack product to scale. We hope to have exciting news on this front soon!

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Go with us towards clean air

• only a few hours remain to vote for us in the Tata Varsity Pitch challenge. If we hit the top of the People's Vote we'll be fast tracked to the next round and be in with the chance of the £15,000 prize. Huge thanks to everyone who has voted already!
• please continue to engage with all our new content on Facebook and instagram. Our competition video seemed to go down well! We're already seeing great user growth and impressive conversion rates
• we continue to be amazed by all the support we get from far and wide. Big shout outs to Alex Cornean, PhD Samuel Crump Joseph Nwosu Guy Naor Advika Jalan Johanna Andersson Sebastien Thomas Amy McDonnell Simon Lande Harry Apperley Hannah Foulds Steve Bryan Yasin Gulam Farid Haque Véronique Rapetti - Certified Growth Mindset Practitioner Rebecca Thomas Steph Thommen Pam Burton Dan Fulker James Wright Tamara Polajnar Christina Chen Inez Vermeulen Ph.D. Emma Jarvis Elinor Wakefield OBE Connor Morrison Daniel Macaulay Sarah Ranchev-Hale Geoffrey Lloyd Ryan Josephs Theresia M.R. Heinrich Shosh Shetty Christian Tooley Toyin Ajidele Emily Pilsworth Jordan Fletcher Claire Cashmore MBE PLY Olivia Brown Ben Brabyn Ranjit Ghoshal Mike Adams Jamie Milroy Rohan Patel Charlotte Day. We hope you'll all continue with us towards clean air.

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Meet the founder

This week, our Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer William Hicks provides his thoughts on building Air Aware Labs.

Will says: Transitioning from academia to founding a startup has been both challenging and rewarding. In research, the goal was knowledge, but now it's about turning that knowledge into meaningful impact. Fundraising demands a completely new approach—it's about connecting with people who share our vision, building strong relationships, and having a thick skin when facing rejection. I'm incredibly grateful to have Louise as a co-founder and the team we're building at Air Aware Labs; together, we halve the bad times and double the successes. Business is ultimately about learning, adapting, and growing, and I'm excited to see 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! You can also email us at hello@airawarelabs.com

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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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