Airex Technologies

Airex Technologies is a climate tech company tackling fuel poverty and climate change with its smart home solutions. Founded in 2016 by Agnes Czako and Sustainable Ventures, the London-based firm developed the world's first smart air brick. This initiative was born from Czako's previous experience as an energy consultant, where she witnessed the prevalence of fuel poverty.

The company’s flagship product, the AirEx Floorvent, is a smart ventilation control system that replaces traditional air bricks in homes with suspended floors. The system uses built-in sensors to monitor environmental conditions like temperature and humidity, along with external weather data, to intelligently regulate airflow. The vents automatically close to prevent heat loss and reduce drafts, and open when needed to ventilate and prevent damp and mould. This process can reduce a home's overall heat loss by an average of 12%, leading to significant savings on energy bills. The system is designed as a "fit-and-forget" solution, requiring no homeowner interaction after installation. Installation is non-disruptive and typically takes about an hour.

Airex primarily targets the social housing sector, working with social landlords, local authorities, and retrofit contractors to install its technology at scale. The business model benefits from the eligibility of its products for government subsidy schemes like ECO4 and the Warmer Homes Scotland programme, often making the solution fully subsidised for social landlords and their residents. The technology is approved by the UK energy regulator Ofgem and is recognized within the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) framework, which helps improve a property's energy rating.

The company has successfully raised a total of $5.7 million over six funding rounds from investors including Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, Nesta Impact Investments, Green Angel Syndicate, and Innovate UK. Building on the success of its underfloor system, Airex is developing new products, such as Roomvent, to extend its smart ventilation technology to living spaces for a whole-home solution.

Keywords: smart ventilation, energy efficiency, retrofit, fuel poverty, climate tech, smart air brick, IoT, proptech, healthy homes, heat loss reduction, social housing, EPC improvement, damp prevention, automated airflow, underfloor ventilation, building technology, home energy savings, smart home sensors, residential energy, UK startups