After her death in 2013, nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as the cause of death on her death certificate. The Health Effects Institute’s State of Global Air Report 2024 found that air pollution accounted for 8.1 million deaths globally in 2021. And it’s not only outdoor air that is polluted. Indoor air has been found to be 5-100 times more polluted than outdoor air.

This is why I spoke to Selene Sarı about her startup, Vox Aeris.

The founder

Selene Sarı is the Founder and CEO of Vox Aeris. Sarı earned her Bachelor’s at UCLA in Aerospace Engineering, and then moved into the automotive industry, working as an Aerodynamics Engineer.

Sarı relocated to London to study Innovation Design Engineering, a double Master’s from Imperial College and Royal College of Art.

“During my Master’s, I had to do a graduation project at the very end. This company's [Vox Aeris] roots were started during that graduation project. I designed a small, portable purifier, and then it took off and became this company.” Sarı explained.

Vox Aeris

Accessing clean air is unfortunately a luxury. So, Vox Aeris is on a mission to democratise access to clean air through advanced air purification technology. It is developing a pre-treatment solution for commercial systems, ensuring air can be purified more efficiently.

“Vox Aeris is a R&D heavy company that works on the simple mission of making clean indoor air an accessible right for all of us. Unlike the current condition, where accessing high-grade, advanced filtration tools is a very, very expensive process,” Sarı discussed.

“The main problem is that we have filtration technology that is able to remove most of these dangerous particles, but they can be costly to operate because they resist airflow. Lower grade ones can be less resistant, but can't capture as many particles.”

Vox Aeris originally began with a portable purifier prototype but has since shifted its efforts to commercial and industrial applications. However, the technology used – acoustic agglomeration – remains the same.

Sarı explained: “It’s using acoustic technology to collide and cluster particles together to make them larger, as larger particles become more easily captured by existing filters, meaning that we can actually boost filtration efficiency through this preconditioning method.

The challenges so far

Vox Aeris is a solo founder project, and currently a team of two, but in order to advance prototyping efforts, the company needs to grow. The technology that powers Vox Aeris is complicated to develop, which will always be a challenge.

Sarı explained: “Acoustic agglomeration has been around for some time, and there’s quite a bit of research on it. But it being commercialised and put in a manner in which it can be scalable and applicable in public spaces is quite challenging from a technology perspective.

“Being creative engineering wise, and actually getting around those hurdles is what makes the company so valuable, but it’s also what makes it so difficult.

“My mentor said ‘the darkest moments of engineering are the biggest opportunities for IP.’ So, it is a challenge, but at the same time, it’s making the company much stronger and unique.”

Education surrounding the technology can be a challenge, as the use of acoustics in air purification and in HVAC systems is quite unheard of. “Whenever I talk to potential customers, people always say they haven’t heard of this before. Which means that when we come to the point where we’re able to sell the device, there could be some resistance.

“I think it's doable, as long as we can show the case studies, and the early adopters show the benefits.”

The highlights

When developing a complicated technology, it’s the wins in the development that become the highlights.

“When we have positive feedback that this solution we’re proposing could actually be adopted, and it hasn’t been done before, those are the very best moments. It’s showing that this has potential and can actually be an advancement,” Sarı beamed.

When working on a unique, innovative solution, those that wish to be early adopters and have faith in the product are a driving force in its continued development. Sarı discussed: “When we talk to customers, especially the early adopter type, they get excited. We’ve actually received some pilot requests for the device.

“When I see that there are people out there who are willing to try new technologies like this, it makes me feel like what I’m doing is valuable.”

Getting recognition for what you’re building will always be a highlight, and Sarı has won her fair share of awards and grants. She has already won the Double Gold Research and Development Award from the Global Women Inventor and Innovators Network, was the Creative and Consumer Track Winner from the Venture Catalyst Challenge (Imperial College London Enterprise Lab), is a Future Frontiers Fund Recipient, and won the Innovate UK Unlocking Potential Award in 2023.

Most recently, Sarı received a grant from the Department for Transport under its Transport Research Grants. Sarı excitedly announced: “We're going to see if we can apply this technology in the London tube. I did projects during my Master's that were specifically around the London tube particulate pollution problem, so it's a really nice opportunity to be able to develop this for the tube and maybe even trial it.”

Looking to the future

Still in the heavy R&D phase, there is a lot still to come for Vox Aeris and Sarı.

The upcoming year will focus on the Department for Transport project, and advancing the core technology so that the company can get an independent lab test.

Since the founding of Vox Aeris, the startup has relied solely on grant and award funding, but to grow, Sarı is hoping to secure further funding. “Getting that independent lab test and showing how much benefit we can provide, and what level of filtration grade jump we actually create, will be an incredibly big achievement, and hopefully that's going to pave the way for more funding.”

With a mission that is so important and developing a technology that will make clean air more accessible to all, Vox Aeris has a bright future ahead.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe