Airlabs

Market position

Airlabs positioned itself in the urban air quality market spanning both filtration hardware and monitoring/data services, addressing what it described as a global air quality crisis intensified by concerns over airborne disease transmission. It was selected into Unreasonable Group's impact venture portfolio under the health category. A New York State ecosystem profile drawing on Dealroom data records no known external funding for the company.

The company described itself as one of the few organisations developing both air filtration and air quality monitoring systems, with filtration technology stated to be the first proven to remove over 95% of nitrogen dioxide from diesel fumes in a low-energy, low-maintenance way. Its AirScape monitoring approach relied on sensors placed metres apart to provide street-by-street, minute-by-minute readings rather than computer modelling between widely spaced reference stations, and it claimed a compact, low total-cost-of-ownership sensor intended to make high-density networks viable.

Technology

Technology was grounded in atmospheric chemistry, airflow engineering and sensor development. Filtration used dual-action systems combining an electrostatic precipitator particle stage with a nano-carbon gas stage to treat both particulates (PM2.5, PM10) and gaseous pollutants (nitrogen dioxide, ozone, VOCs), and was stated to avoid the clogging associated with traditional fibre filters while achieving high clean air delivery rates. Monitoring used compact, low-cost sensors deployed metres apart feeding a cloud-based analysis platform (AirScape) for real-time, street-level pollution mapping.

Go-to-market

Airlabs sold through four route segments: cities and local authorities (monitoring networks and data for clean zone policy and enforcement), buildings (portable filtration for offices, classrooms and healthcare settings), transport (clean air zones in buses, trains, station platforms and vehicles), and consumers (the AirBubbl device). It worked through partnerships with corporates such as Barclays, with local government such as Camden Council, and with research institutions in atmospheric chemistry and airflow engineering.

Local authorities and cities, commercial property owners and employers, healthcare settings and schools, transport operators including bus, coach and train fleets, private hire and corporate fleets, and individual consumers and families.

Geography

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with a UK contact number in the Bristol area code. Deployments included London (Barclays air cabs, Marylebone Station, the London Borough of Camden) and Delhi, with products reported as used by transport operators, cities, businesses and private citizens across the world.

History

Founded in 2014, the company built air filtration and air quality monitoring systems that were subsequently deployed with transport operators, cities, businesses and private citizens internationally. It developed an outdoor clean air zone in Delhi and clean air zones at Marylebone Station in London delivered through advertising billboards, and in 2019 supplied filtration technology for a fleet of Barclays-branded clean air cabs in London. The AirBubbl in-vehicle device followed as its first consumer product, alongside the AirHavn Pro indoor unit and, later, the Clean Air as a Service offering and a compact air quality sensor. In 2021 the company announced AirScape, with its first network planned for the London Borough of Camden in partnership with Camden Council and the Camden Clean Air Initiative. Unreasonable Group, which listed Airlabs among its ventures, states that the company is no longer operating.

Risks & controversies

Unreasonable Group's venture page states that Airlabs is no longer operating. A third-party company profile records no known external funding, and the AirScape Camden network was described as planned to go live in autumn 2021, later than the company's other commercial launches.