Air Aware Labs launches pollen

Welcome to the sixty-first edition of our newsletter, as we review our work with the London Marathon, launch our pollen feature and review our strategy with our advisers and Board. This newsletter is aimed at investors, collaborators, future hires and early adopters of our products.

As we launch our pollen tracking feature, we are reminded of the interaction between air pollution and pollen, bringing an unhealthy combination for city dwellers in particular. Pollutants amplify the allergenic response, fragment the pollen into smaller particles that can penetrate deeper and inflame airways. Alongside new evidence on the impact of pollen on children, and the shifting of seasons meaning hay fever season is starting earlier, we decided we could not delay in bringing out this feature in AirTrack! We've added a pollen section to our evidence bank too. Another step towards helping people protect their health from the impact of air pollution. Please join us on our mission - Personalising Air Quality, for everyone.

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Hot off the press

• this week we launched a pollen feature for AirTrack - our second launch in a month! Pollen and air pollution interact in ways that can make urban living unpleasant for hundreds of thousands of people, so we decided to roll out tools to help them. Feedback is welcome!
• we had a great day at the London Marathon and have been analysing the data since. This was a great opportunity to bring insights and data to runners, including elites, and to raise awareness of pollution's impact on athletes
• and we are looking strategically! We had our quarterly strategy review session with our advisers and investors last week, leading into our Board meeting next week. And following interest from Africa at the time of our AirTrack v2 launch last month, we held a seminar yesterday to look at data availability with experts in the region. And we have our first tech certification - Cyber Essentials.

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Go with us towards clean air

• we narrowly missed out on a Women in Innovation grant to take forward our work to create a pregnancy-focused version of AirTrack. If you know funders in that area, please let us know!
• vote for us in the Reset+Connect competition - we have the opportunity to win £10k for our climate-related innovation!
• we continue to be amazed by all the support we get from far and wide. Big shout outs to Graham Thomas Véronique Rapetti Dave Rowlands David Kieft Paul Lewis Ann Jordan Dean MBE DL Rabbi Hasan Edmund Zhi Peng Cheng Martha Chamberlin Ivy Mensah Mads Nybo Jorgensen Sally McKendry Berta Briones Ali Munro Maureen Blandford Jelmer E. Huisman Melissa KWENKEU Okello Gabriel Deo Okure Oluwatosin Kuti Harrison Ashangwa Marjo Palanee Agnes Agyepong Gail Armstrong Dr. Dominique Morrison Katherine Prescott Victor Tapia Olivares Karli Büchling Matthew Clark Laura Horsfall Ruaraidh Dobson Tina Muir Macarena Martinez Lauren Romanish Berthe Latreille. We hope you'll all continue with us towards clean air.

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Meet the team

This edition, we are re-introducing Daniel Catindoy, one of our our software engineers. Dan says: "It's wild to think it's already been over a year since I joined Air Aware Labs back in November 2024. Honestly, this has been one of the most enjoyable and rewarding chapters of my career so far. I've had the chance to contribute across different parts of the AirTrack mobile app, working on a variety of features that our users interact with every day.

"One thing I'm really grateful for is the guidance I've received from Sacha Manson-Smith and Roy Evangelista. As the youngest developer on the team, it would've been easy to feel out of my depth, but they've never once made me feel that way. Instead, they've patiently shared their experience, challenged me in the right ways, and genuinely helped me grow as an engineer. I've learned so much just by working alongside them.

"Beyond the technical side, what makes this role special is the people. Working with such a talented, kind, and mission-driven team across different countries and time zones has been a real privilege. I'm proud to be part of something that actually matters, and I'm excited to keep building tools that help people breathe cleaner, healthier air."

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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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