Best Startup
- Appointments: Jonathan Garthside (ex-Bulb) and Rishi Stocker (ex-Revolut) join the leadership team to expand operations in the UK and Europe.
- Ambition: Airly to deploy sensors in major cities to gather real-time air quality data allowing them to predict pollution levels for the next 24 hours.
- Hiring: Airly to hire 35 staff including a UK-based Head of Sales as it scales operations.
Cleantech business Airly, who is on a mission to tackle global air pollution, has hired senior executives to its leadership as it expands operations in the UK and Europe. Jonathan Gartside, formerly Chief Experience Officer at UK energy supplier Bulb, has joined Krakow and Palo Alto-based Airly as Chief Operating Officer. Rishi Stocker, who scaled UK-banking challenger Revolut across the globe, has been appointed Commercial Advisor.
Jonathan Gartside has spent over 10-years working in the energy sector. He began his career consulting at BCG in 2009, including a secondment at Gazprom Marketing & Trading. He joined Bulb in 2016 as Chief Experience Officer before leading their international expansion.
On his appointment to COO at Airly, Jonathan Gartside commented: “I believe Airly will be pivotal in tackling the public health crisis of air quality. I’m excited to join the team as they expand their activities in the UK and beyond. We expect to build a London-based commercial team of 35 mission-driven people who are committed to growing this company 10x in the next 2 years. One of my first priorities will be to appoint a UK Head of Sales to support in building relationships with national and local government, companies and communities to help in their fight for cleaner air”.
Rishi Stocker spent the last four years co-creating the success of the FinTech game-changer Revolut as Head of Partnerships. On becoming Commercial Advisor to Airly, Rishi Stocker commented: “I look forward to bringing the Revolut spirit and culture to Airly. Air pollution kills millions of people every year but Airly has already had a phenomenal impact tackling this critical issue. I’m excited to help this talented team scale their technology across the globe and repair the air for more communities.
These appointments come hot on the heels of recent funding rounds in which Airly has raised a total of $5.3m in VC funding. Among the investors in two seed rounds led by London based Giant Ventures and firstminute capital were the co-founders of Uber, Bolt and the family office of Virgin founder, Richard Banson. The funding is being used to build teams in key global markets for the business, namely the UK, Nordics and Romania.
“These appointments signal our intentions to expand quickly and make an impact on people’s lives. With the support of companies, local municipalities and governments, we can make a real difference to the health outcomes of millions of people” says Wiktor Warchałowski, CEO and co-founder at Airly.
Airly’s customers comprise over 600 local governments and cities including Hong Kong, Jakarta, Oslo, Granada, corporates such as Philips, Virgin, Innogy, PwC, Veolia and Skanska.
With 62% of the world’s governments sharing no real-time air quality data, Airly provides accurate, ultra-local, predictive data for governments, media and businesses to tackle the issue of air pollution head-on. Airly’s platform acts as a warning system for pollution at street level and in real time with greater accuracy and at lower cost for cities & enterprises.
Wiktor Warchałowski added: “With public and political awareness of the air quality crisis reaching a tipping point – from California fires to the landmark cause of death case in London – air quality data will become a key utility for consumers, companies and policymakers. Our technology is affordable and is 95% accurate, we have the potential to become the single source of truth for air quality globally.”
