Arctic startup Q&A: AirVitalize

The Arctic region is home to a growing number of innovative startups, each navigating the unique challenges and opportunities of the Far North. In our spotlight series, Five Quick Questions for an Arctic Startup, we’re inviting startups from the Near Arctic and Arctic regions to share their stories and insights on Arctic Today.

This Q&A series provides a platform for startups to answer five key questions, offering a glimpse into their groundbreaking ideas, the distinctiveness of their innovations, and the lessons learned from working in this remote yet vital part of the world. Stay tuned as we explore how these trailblazers are shaping the future of the Arctic economy, infrastructure, and culture. In our second of the series Serena Allen Chief Executive Officer and founder of AirVitalize told us about the Fairbanks, Alaska startup.

Industry: Climate

Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

Number of employees: 2 full time

Most recent funding: $105k Angel round lead secured late October, going for $500k in total

Website: www.airvitalize.tech

Team members: Serena Allen, Dr. Chris Stokely

What is your elevator pitch?
AirVitalize engineers hardware that cleans outdoor air in regions with temperature inversions.

What makes your idea unique and hard to copy?
AirVitalize offers a unique, scalable air pollution capture technology that’s adaptable across any industry housed in a region with temperature inversions. The Vita, our device, is designed from over 1,000 interviews with residents in polluted areas, our mobile, plug-and-play system installs easily anywhere. Our patent-pending filterless technology minimizes electricity use and eliminates the need for filter replacements, diverting waste from landfills. Another pending patent optimizes airflow for regions with temperature inversions, creating a more profound public health impact. Our specialized team and unique intellectual property means we can provide unparalleled tailored solutions to improve outdoor air quality.

How does being located in the Far North affect your business, both challenges or benefits?

Benefits:
Being located in the Far North provides a supportive and engaged community that’s highly aware of the impacts of air pollution. This makes it easier to raise awareness and build support for our technology. The region’s history of innovation in extreme conditions fosters a collaborative, problem-solving mindset that aligns with our mission.

Challenges:
The isolation of the Far North means long travel times and limited flight options, which complicates business operations, especially in our second location in Los Angeles. Additionally, the smaller community size can limit access to investment and customer opportunities. Manufacturing can also be challenging due to the lack of local technical resources and long shipping time, but we’ve successfully addressed cutting down shipping times by partnering with local manufacturers.

Who is your ideal investor?
We’re looking for investors who are passionate about creating a better future for the next generation and adapting to climate change to build more resilient communities. The ideal partner will recognize the untapped potential in the air pollution control market—particularly for outdoor air—and understands that this space is ripe for innovation. Additional experience working with government or athletics and being a previous founder is also a plus!

What is the hardest or most surprising lesson you have learned?
One of the hardest lessons we’ve learned is that delays are simply part of the process when developing hardware. Unexpected challenges always come up, and tech setbacks can be frustrating. But by being honest with our partners and patient with our challenges, we’ve been able to overcome every hurdle faced. What keeps us going is the strong support from our community and our unwavering commitment to solving this problem. At AirVitalize we fundamentally believe everyone has the right to access healthy outdoor air somewhere near them. We remind ourselves that if the air pollution crisis was easy to solve, everyone would be doing it—and it’s the perseverance through these challenges that leads to true innovation.

Would you like to have your startup featured?

All startups in the Far North and Arctic region are invited to participate in a new spotlight series on Arctic Today’s Arctic Business Journal page, called “Five questions for an Arctic startup.”

To participate, submit the following facts and answer the questions in brief elevator-pitch style to [email protected]. You must also submit your name, a photo of you alone or with your team, and photos of your product, business or location, as appropriate.

Fast facts:

• Industry:
• Location:
• Number of employees:
• Most recent funding:
• Website:
• Team members:

Questions: (Try to answer each question in one paragraph)

1. What is your elevator pitch?
2. What makes your idea unique and hard to copy?
3. How does being located in the Far North affect your business, both challenges or benefits?
4. Who is your ideal investor?
5. What is the hardest or most surprising lesson you have learned?

Please send your name, phone number, email for our editors to contact you if necessary.

Feel free to add additional information not covered in the above items. And don’t forget to include pictures/images.

Submit your completed response to [email protected] and our editors will prepare it for publication.

(We will write a headline, short intro and, of course, give your text a light copy edit).